Incheon to host Asian Indoor & Martial Arts Games as run-up to Asian Games

Incheon is hosting a tournament for minority sports such as billiards, dance sports and kickboxing next summer as part of preparations for the 2014 Asian Games.

Titled the Asian Indoor & Marital Arts Games, the event is also intended to promote lesser known sports throughout Asia. Sports programs include bowling, chess, “baduk” (go), e-sports, dance sports, futsal, indoor kabaddi, kickboxing, muay Thai, kurash, and 25-meter short-course swimming.

“The Asian Indoor & Martial Arts Games to be held in Incheon from June 29 to July 8 will probably not have been heard of before because the events to be operated there are not seen in well-known events such as the Olympics or Asian Games,” said Kim Young-soo, president of the Incheon Asian Games Organizing Committee.

Kim Young-soo, president of the 2014 Incheon Asian Games Organizing Committee, speaks about the preparations for the Asian Indoor & Martial Arts Games to be held in Incheon next summer as a test event for the Asian Games. (Incheon Asian Games Organizing Committee)

Incheon will host the 17th Asian Games in 2014. Its organizers are also running the indoor and martial arts games.

“They are the first games involving both indoor sports and martial arts that are mostly practiced in Asia,” he said.

The 4th Asian Indoor & Martial Arts Games Incheon 2013 is an international sporting event of the Olympic Council of Asia, which is the governing body of the Asian Games.

“The Asian Indoor & Martial Arts Games are a gauge of the national interest for the 2014 Asian Games and a good chance to check our ability to operate a big sporting event regarding security, protocol, information technology and other systems,” Kim said.

The council held indoor and martial arts events from 2005 to 2009 separately from the Asian Summer or Winter Games, but decided to integrate them from 2013. Forty-five OCA member countries are expected to send 4,400 athletes, officials and media staff to the Asian Indoor & Martial Arts Games Incheon 2013, according to the organizers.

The first Asian Indoor Games were hosted by Bangkok in 2005. Macau and Hanoi held the second and third games in 2007 and 2009, respectively. The 4th indoor games were originally scheduled for Doha, Qatar in 2011, but canceled as they were integrated with the Asian martial arts games. China topped the others in all of the three indoor games. Korea placed ninth, fourth and sixth in the first, second and third games, respectively.

The Asian Martial Arts Games was launched in Bangkok in 2009, in which the host country placed first, with Korea third. The 2013 Asian Indoor & Martial Arts Games in Incheon is the first games to stage both martial arts and indoor sports.

The next Asian Indoor & Martial Arts Games will be held in Turkmenistan in 2017.

“Except for three Asian sports powers, Korea, China and Japan, it is still not easy for a minor nation to host the Asian Games,” said Kim.

“So, they tend to prefer mid-scale games such as indoor and martial arts games or youth games to the large scale one.”

In case of the Asian Indoor & Martial Arts Games, specific sporting programs may vary depending on the host country, but billiards, e-sports and sports dance are likely to be fixtures given that they have produced numerous clubs throughout age groups, according to organizers.

In a bid to save operating costs and raise protocol efficiency, Incheon has put together two or three similar sports into single categories after consulting the OCA. As a result, muay Thai and kickboxing have been classified into one event titled muay & kickboxing, while competitions in three mental sports ― baduk (go), chess and e-sports ― will be operated within a single program.

By Chun Sung-woo ()