The 2008 ASEAN Para Games, officially known as the 4th ASEAN Para Games, was a Southeast Asian disabled

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 ...

held in

Nakhon Ratchasima Nakhon Ratchasima (, ) is the capital of Nakhon Ratchasima province, the largest city in Isan, Northeastern Thailand and the List of municipalities in Thailand#Largest cities by urban population, third-largest city in Thailand. It is 250 km (1 ...

, Thailand from 20 to 26 January 2008, one month after the

2007 Southeast Asian Games The 2007 Southeast Asian Games (), officially known as the 24th Southeast Asian Games, were a Southeast Asian multi-sport event held in Nakhon Ratchasima province, Nakhon Ratchasima (Korat), Thailand. This was the sixth time Thailand hosted the ...

. This was the first time Thailand hosted the

ASEAN Para Games The ASEAN Para Games is a biennial Paralympic sports, multi-sport event held after every Southeast Asian Games involving disabled athletes from the current 11 Southeast Asia countries. Participating athletes have a variety of disabilities rangi ...

. Around 1000 athletes from 11 participating nations participated at the games which featured 488 events in 14 sports. Thailand is the fourth nation to host the games after Malaysia, Vietnam and the Philippines. The games was opened and by Surayud Chulanont, the Prime Minister of Thailand at the 80th Birthday Stadium. The final medal tally was led by host Thailand, followed by Malaysia and Vietnam. Several Games and national records were broken during the games. The games were deemed generally successful with the rising standard of disabled sports competition amongst the Southeast Asian nations.

Development and preparation

The 4th ASEAN Para Games Organising Committee was formed to oversee the staging of the games.

Venues

The 4th ASEAN Para Games had 14 venues for the games.

Marketing

Logo

The logo of the 2008 ASEAN Para Games is the Chumpol Gate, a historical place in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand. Chumpol Gate represents victory. It also denotes the exquisite Thai art and culture. Curvy blue and red lines represent the pageantry of fluttering flags leading eager, excited athletes marching into the stadium. The ASEAN Para Sports Federation logo sits in the center of the emblem, representing friendship and co-operation between participants from ASEAN countries.

Mascot

The mascot of the 2008 ASEAN Para Games, is a dove named ''Nok-Khao karom'' which is recognised as a symbol of Nakhon Ratchasima Province. Nok-Khao Karom is a local animal name of Nakhon Ratchasima for dove. Karom is described as a wise, cheerful, gentle, and friendly, reflecting the characteristics of Thai people. The name of the dove is also the abbreviation of the games' values namely, Kind, Appreciation, Reliable, Optimistic, and Manners.

The games

Opening ceremony

The opening ceremony was held at the

80th Birthday Stadium The 80th Birthday Stadium is a sports facility in Nakhon Ratchasima (Korat), Nakhon Ratchasima Province, Thailand. It is the main stadium in His Majesty the King's 80th Birthday Anniversary, 5 December 2007, Sports Complex. It is home to Nakh ...

on 20 January 2008 at 19:00 (TST). The games was declared opened by Thai Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont.

Closing ceremony

The closing ceremony was held at the

on 26 January 2008 at 19:00 (TST). The ASEAN Para Games responsibilities was officially handed over to Malaysia, host of the 2009 ASEAN Para Games after Laos, the host of the

2009 Southeast Asian Games The 2009 Southeast Asian Games (, Romanization of Lao, translit. Kila phoumipak asi taven oak siang tai 2009), officially known as the 25th Southeast Asian Games, were a Southeast Asian multi-sport event hosted by Vientiane, Laos. This was the ...

, declined to host the games, citing financial difficulties.

Participating nations

* * * * * * * * * * *

Sports

Archery Archery is the sport, practice, or skill of using a Bow and arrow, bow to shooting, shoot arrows.Paterson ''Encyclopaedia of Archery'' p. 17 The word comes from the Latin ''arcus'', meaning bow. Historically, archery has been used for hunting ...

Athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competitio ...

Badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racket (sports equipment), racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net (device), net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per s ...

Boccia Boccia ( ) is a precision ball sport, similar to bocce, and related to bowls and pétanque. The name "boccia" is derived from the Latin word for "boss" – '. The sport is contested at local, national and international levels, by athletes w ...

Chess Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...

Wheelchair fencing Wheelchair fencing (also called Parafencing) is a version of fencing for athletes with a disability. Wheelchair fencing is governed by the International Wheelchair and Amputee Sports Federation that is a federation of the International Paralymp ...

Goalball Goalball is a team sport designed specifically for athletes with a visual impairment, vision impairment. Participants compete in teams of three, and try to throw a ball with bells embedded inside it into the opponents' goal. The ball is throw ...

Judo is an unarmed gendai budō, modern Japanese martial art, combat sport, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyc ...

Powerlifting Powerlifting is a competitive strength athletics, strength sport that consists of three attempts at maximal weight on three lifts: Squat (exercise), squat, bench press, and deadlift. As in the sport of Olympic weightlifting, it involves the athle ...

Shooting Shooting is the act or process of discharging a projectile from a ranged weapon (such as a gun, bow, crossbow, slingshot, or blowpipe). Even the acts of launching flame, artillery, darts, harpoons, grenades, rockets, and guided missile ...

Swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, such as saltwater or freshwater environments, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Swimmers achieve locomotion by coordinating limb and body movements to achieve hydrody ...

Table tennis Table tennis (also known as ping-pong) is a racket sport derived from tennis but distinguished by its playing surface being atop a stationary table, rather than the Tennis court, court on which players stand. Either individually or in teams of ...

Wheelchair basketball Wheelchair basketball is a style of basketball played using a sports wheelchair. The International Wheelchair Basketball Federation (IWBF) is the governing body for this sport. It is recognized by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) as ...

Wheelchair tennis Wheelchair tennis is one of the forms of tennis Adaptive sport, adapted for wheelchair users. The size of the court, net height and rackets are the same, but there are two major differences from pedestrian tennis: athletes use specially designe ...

Medal table

A total of 1052 medals comprising 488 gold medals, 320 silver medals and 244 bronze medals were awarded to athletes. The Host Thailand's performance was their best ever yet in ASEAN Para Games History and emerged as overall champion of the games. ;Key Host nation (Thailand)

References

External links

2008 ASEAN Para Games official website
Archive.org mirror of official website
Public relations website
{{ASEAN Para Games

ASEAN Para Games