I was only ten years old when the Games came to Delhi. It really
was a Godsend for me and my friends because we were officially allowed to bunk
from school every afternoon. And so for a week we were at the Stadium
regularly. I stayed a little over a km from the stadium so it wasn’t too
difficult running there after lunch. I still remember India’s great Levy
Pinto win the sprint double, and who can forget Mewa Lal our
football captain. There were many others who helped India achieve the second
spot in the Games.
I still fondly remember how I got this First Day Cover. The
postal department had set up a counter at the stadium for our foreign friends
who had come from far and near to watch the games. With, a little pleading the
man at the counter agreed to sell us the covers and stamps. But for some
strange reason he refused to give us the postmarked covers to take home. He
insisted that I write my name and address on the cover and he would do the
posting and I could only get it through the normal postal channels. Fortunately,
I did get it after two days, and here it is.
The 1951 Asian Games, officially known as the First
Asian Games, was a multi-sport event celebrated in Delhi, India from 4 to
11 March 1951. The Games received names like First Asiad and 1951
Asiad by the president of the organising committee Anthony de
Mello. A total of 489 athletes representing 11 Asian National Olympic
Committees (NOCs) participated in 57 events from eight sports and discipline.
The Games was the successor of the Far Eastern Games and the revival of the
Western Asiatic Games. The 1951 Asiad were originally scheduled to be held in
1950, but postponed until 1951 due to delays in preparations. On 13 February
1949, the Asian Games Federation was formally established in Delhi, with Delhi
unanimously announced as the first host city of the Asian Games. Indian Olympic
Association (IOA) member Guru Dutt Sondhi and the Maharaja of Patiala,
Rajpramukh of Patiala and East Punjab States Union and president of the IOA HRH
Yadavindra Singh played a significant role in the inception of Asian Games and
in organising the 1951 Asiad. The organising committee of the Games invited
almost all the independent Asian countries of the time except Soviet Union and
Vietnam, due to the political structure of those nations.
The stadium was built in 1933 as a gift for Delhi from the Maharaja
of Bhavnagar, it was originally multipurpose stadium and named the Irwin
Amphitheatre. It was designed by Anthony S. DeMillo and opened by
Lord Willingdon. It was renamed National Stadium just
before the 1951 Asian Games,
National Stadium was used as the venue for all the events of the
Games. The official logo of the First Asiad depicted a bright sun in
red with 16 rays and a white circle in the middle of the disc of the sun and
eleven rings, representing each participating nation, on a white background,
symbolising peace. Japanese athletes won the most golds and overall
medals, with 24 and 60 respectively; while the host nation India had
the 15 golds and 51 overall medals with most bronzes (20) and finished at
second spot in a medal table. The next Asian Games organised by India were
the 1982 Asian Games, some 31 years later.
On 4 March 1951, the First Asian Games were officially opened.
The list of the guests included— India's first President Rajendra
Prasad, first Prime Minister of India Jawaharlal Nehru, cabinet members of
Indian Government, diplomatic corps and representatives of participating Asian
NOCs. The National Stadium was filled with an estimated 40,000 spectators. A
31-gun salute was fired from the ramparts of the Purana Quila (Old Fort),
adjacent to the National Stadium, in the honour of guests and participants of
first Asian Games. After a speech by the president of Asian Games Federation,
HRH Yaduvendra Singh, President Rajendra Prasad officially opened the
Games.
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