Winter Asiad shows winter games for elite

Sapporo (Japan), February 26

The Asian Winter Games in Sapporo didn’t welcome a new medal winner country until the penultimate day of the week-long event. Two decades after it was launched in Sapporo, the Asian version of the Winter Olympics remains dominated by an elite club of a few countries.

North Korea won its first medal in Sapporo on Saturday to become the only fifth country on the medals table as Ryom Tae-ok and Kim Ju-sik finished third in the figure skating pairs event.

Ahead of North Korea are Japan, South Korea, China and Kazakhstan — the typical “Big Four”, as always.  

The list is short — and embarrassing, to the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA), considering that 30 Asian delegations are competing for medals. As the largest ever Games in the number of participating delegations, the Sapporo Asiad also welcomed Australia and New Zealand to compete as guests, not for medals. Only 10 countries have touched medals in eight versions of the Games. As for gold, the number is down to eight which includes three one-timers. North Korea’s first and only gold came from the first Games in 1986 while Lebanon had one in 2003.

Uzbekistan claimed its sole Asiad gold in 1999 despite having reached the medals table four times. With Asia set to host two straight Winter Olympics — PyeongChang in 2018 and Beijing in 2022, plus the 2020 Summer Games in Tokyo, the OCA is hoping the continent is living up to the billing as a hub of the Olympics Games. 

India draws a blank

Japan finished first (27 gold, 21 silver and 26 bronze) while Korea with 16 golds, 18 silver and 16 bronze medals finished second. China finished third with 12 gold, 14 silver and nine bronze medals. India could not make it to the medals tally. — IANS