BANGKOK, September 11 — The Asian Games, the continental multi-sport event organised by the Olympic Council of Asia and held every four years, returns to the calendar with its next edition, and wrestling will again form part of a programme whose history stretches back to the first Games in New Delhi in 1951, when six sports and 11 countries took part. The salient point about the wrestling competition is how recently much of it arrived.
Wrestling was added only at the second edition, Manila 1954, and for years the programme was Freestyle alone. Greco-Roman did not appear until Seoul 1986.
Women’s Wrestling waited until Busan 2002.
Iran leads golds, Japan leads the overall count
Japan and Iran have dominated the discipline. Iran leads the gold-medal count; Japan leads the overall medal count. Korea, notably, dominated the continental Games as a whole from 1986 to 2002, winning the most golds overall.
Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, India, China and the DPR Korea have also shown strong results. The early editions set the pattern.
At Manila 1954, Afghanistan, Ceylon, China, India, Japan, Korea, Pakistan and the Philippines took part, contesting eight Freestyle weight classes up to +87kg. Japan won seven golds, Pakistan one. At Tokyo 1958, Iran won three golds and Japan five, with two of Iran’s champions, Emam Habibi and Gholamreza Takhti, among the winners.
Jakarta 1962 brought Greco-Roman into the programme, and the top weight classes shifted to +97kg. Japan won 10 golds, five in each style.
Pakistan took two in Freestyle and one in Greco-Roman. India won its first gold, one in Freestyle and two in Greco-Roman.
A shifting map of winners
Bangkok 1966 reverted to Freestyle only, with Japan taking four golds, Iran three and Pakistan one. By Bangkok 1970 the Freestyle programme had expanded to 10 weight classes, topped by +100kg; Iran led with six golds, Japan four, and the 68kg gold was shared. India won one.
Tehran 1974 drew the highest participation to that point, and Iran dominated both styles. Mongolia, Iraq and the DPR Korea appeared for the first time.
Mongolia won two Freestyle golds, Iran five, South Korea its first, Japan three, and the +100kg gold was shared. In Greco-Roman, Iran won eight and Japan two. At Bangkok 1978 Japan returned to the top with six golds; India won two, Mongolia and Korea one each, and Bangladesh and Syria made their debuts.
New Delhi 1982 drew 17 countries, with Saudi Arabia and Yemen debuting. Japan won four golds, Iran three, Mongolia two, India one.
Then came Seoul 1986, where Greco-Roman returned and Korea won nine of the 20 golds on offer; Japan took five, Iran four, and India and Pakistan one each. Beijing 1990 took the Games to China for the first time and six countries won gold. Korea won 13 of 20, Iran three, China and Japan two each, Mongolia and the DPR Korea one each.
At Hiroshima 1994, after the Soviet Union split, Korea won nine of 20 golds, eight of them in Greco-Roman; Iran took six in Freestyle, first-time participant Kazakhstan three, and Japan and Mongolia one each. Bangkok 1998 drew 20 countries, Nepal debuting, with Korea topping on seven golds from 16 weight classes, Iran five, and Kazakhstan and the DPR Korea two each. Women’s Wrestling then arrived at Busan 2002.
What to watch next is whether the established order holds. Iran’s lead in golds and Japan’s in overall medals have proved durable across seven decades of expansion, and the newer wrestling nations — Kazakhstan, Mongolia and the DPR Korea among them — have shown they can take titles when the programme shifts.
