The 1923

Far Eastern Championship Games The Far Eastern Championship Games (also known as the Far Eastern Championships, Far Eastern Games or Far East Games) was an Asian multi-sport event considered to be a precursor to the Asian Games. History In 1913, Elwood Brown, president of ...

was the sixth edition of the regional

multi-sport event A multi-sport event is an organized sporting event, often held over multiple days, featuring competition in many different sports among organized teams of athletes from (mostly) nation-states. The first major, modern, multi-sport event of intern ...

, contested between China, Japan and the Philippines, and was held from 21–25 May in

Osaka is a Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the List of cities in Japan, third-most populous city in J ...

Empire of Japan The Empire of Japan, also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was the Japanese nation state that existed from the Meiji Restoration on January 3, 1868, until the Constitution of Japan took effect on May 3, 1947. From Japan–Kor ...

. It was the first and only time that Osaka hosted the event, marking a departure of the capital

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

being the traditional Japanese venue.

Java Java is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea (a part of Pacific Ocean) to the north. With a population of 156.9 million people (including Madura) in mid 2024, proje ...

, Thailand and

French Indochina French Indochina (previously spelled as French Indo-China), officially known as the Indochinese Union and after 1941 as the Indochinese Federation, was a group of French dependent territories in Southeast Asia from 1887 to 1954. It was initial ...

were invited to compete, but declined. A total of eight sports were contested over the course of the five-day event.Bell, Daniel (2003). ''Encyclopedia of International Games''. McFarland and Company, Inc. Publishers, Jefferson, North Carolina. . During the games, Lou Salvador of the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

' achieved the all-time record for the most points scored by a player in a single game in international basketball competition. He scored 116 points to lead the Philippines and beat China to recapture the gold medal. In the football competition, China was represented by

South China AA South China Athletic Association (known simply as South China, SCAA, ) is a Hong Kong professional sports club with a football team competing in the Hong Kong First Division League, Hong Kong First Division, the second-tier league in Hong K ...

, a

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

-based team.Far Eastern Games
RSSSF. Retrieved on 2014-12-21. Women appeared as competitors at the games for the first time. Demonstration matches in

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

and

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

were contested but were not awarded medals as part of the official programme.Morris, Andrew D. (2004). ''Marrow of the Nation: A History of Sport and Physical Culture in Republican China''
pp. 77, 90–91
University of California Press. . There were calls for a boycott of the 1923 games in China, due to poor relations with Japan, but as the delegation was traditionally led by an American from the Chinese

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organisation based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It has nearly 90,000 staff, some 920,000 volunteers and 12,000 branches w ...

branch the nation participated at the games regardless. This led to further questions in the press about China's national sovereignty in international sports.

Participants

* * *

Philippine Islands The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

Sports

References

{{Far Eastern Championship Games Far Eastern Championship Games

International sports competitions hosted by Japan Multi-sport events in Japan Sports competitions in Osaka

20th century in Osaka