The 2014 ASEAN Para Games, officially known as the 7th ASEAN Para Games, was a Southeast Asian disabled multi-sport event held in

Naypyidaw Naypyidaw (), officially Romanization of Burmese, romanized as Nay Pyi Taw (NPT), is the capital city, capital and third-largest city of Myanmar. The city is located at the centre of the Naypyidaw Union Territory. It is unusual among Myanmar's ...

Myanmar Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and has ...

three weeks after the closing of the

2013 Southeast Asian Games The 2013 Southeast Asian Games (, ), officially known as the 27th Southeast Asian Games, or the 27th SEA Games, and commonly known as Naypyitaw 2013, were a Southeast Asian multi-sport event took place in Naypyidaw, Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar from 11 ...

from 14 to 20 January 2014. This was the first time Myanmar 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 ...

. Myanmar is the sixth country to host the ASEAN Para Games after Malaysia, Vietnam, Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia. Around 1482 athletes participated at the games which featured 359 events in 12 sports. It was opened by Vice President of Myanmar,

Sai Mauk Kham Dr. Sai Mauk Kham (, ; born 17 August 1949) is a Burmese politician and physician who currently serves as a House of Representatives MP for Lashio Township constituency. He previously served as First Vice President of Myanmar from 1 July 2012 ...

at the Wunna Theikdi Stadium. The final medal tally was led by Indonesia, followed by Thailand and Malaysia with host Myanmar in fifth place. 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.

Host city

The 7th ASEAN Para Games was held in

and it was also for the very first time Myanmar host the ASEAN Para Games. Previously, the Southeast Asian Games Federation (SEAGF) Council met in Jakarta on 31 May 2010 earlier unanimously agreed to award the

Myanmar Olympic Committee Myanmar Olympic Committee (, IOC code: MYA) is the National Olympic Committee representing Myanmar (also called Burma). It was founded in 1946 by Zaw Weik. Duty *To perform the sports affairs according to the policies of Myanmar National Sports ...

the right to host the 27th edition of the Southeast Asian Games. This means the hosting rights of the 7th ASEAN Para Games automatically goes to Myanmar which hosted the games three weeks after the end of the 2013 Southeast Asian Games.

Development and preparation

The

ASEAN Para Games Organising Committee (NAPGOC) was established under the guidance of the ASEAN Para Sports Federation to ensure the success of the 2014 ASEAN Para Games.

Venues

The 7th ASEAN Para Games had 9 venues for the games.

Public transport

As Naypyidaw is yet to be fully developed into a city, only shuttle bus services were provided throughout the games and were used to ferry athletes and officials to and from the airport, games venues and games village.

Marketing

Logo

The logo of the 2014 ASEAN Para Games is the shape of Myanmar Map depicted as a sprinter who is in the energetic momentum. The colour of the map yellow, green and red, also the colours of the flag of Myanmar represents Myanmar as the host of the games while the sprinter in the logo who hold the Asean Para Sports Federation logo at the tips of the finger represents the successful holding of the 7th ASEAN Para Games in Myanmar.

Mascot

The official mascot of the 2014 ASEAN Para Games is an owl named Ko Zee Gwet, meaning

brother A brother (: brothers or brethren) is a man or boy who shares one or more parents with another; a male sibling. The female counterpart is a sister. Although the term typically refers to a family, familial relationship, it is sometimes used ende ...

owl in Burmese. It is said in Myanmar which is described as a country with civilisation, replicas of Owl are kept by people as lucky charms in their living rooms, work places and shops. The adoption of the owl is meant to represent good luck and hope for the games' successful hosting. Ko Zee Gwet is of almost the same owl species as Shwe Yoe and Ma Moe, the mascots of the 2013 Southeast Asian Games.

Songs

Two songs were composed for the 2014 ASEAN Para Games. They were "Para Games" composed by a Myanmar singer which is the games theme song and "It means to you all" composed by Soe Moe Htet.

The games

Opening ceremony

The Opening Ceremony was held in Wunna Theikdi Stadium in Naypyidaw - the capital of Myanmar on 14 January 2014 at 5:30pm ST It was held according to the 15 items. Before the ceremony, singers, disabled persons performed with 10 songs including the 7th ASEAN Para Games Theme Song -"Para Games". The Ceremony started by the Countdown program which 1,200 students performed and the Opening Ceremony began. Vice President

officially opened the 7th ASEAN Para Games. Torch relay was passed through the hands of nine former Myanmar athletes. For the lighting of the ASEAN Para Games flame, the 11 gold medalist athletic player U Kyaw Khaing lit the flame to the top of the flower cauldron by javelin to the target and the flame fired to the top of the cauldron. Then, the ceremony continued by the 4 performances - Myanmar traditional and culture dances- including the performance called " The bank of Pollen " which was performed by hundreds of the deaf children from Mary Chafmine School. The Opening Ceremony concluded successfully at 9:30pm.

Closing ceremony

The Closing Ceremony was held on 20 January 2014 at the Wunna Theikdi Stadium at 6:00pm (MST). It was held according to the 10 items. At the start of the ceremony, 3 songs and 3 performances including the 7th ASEAN Para Games Theme Song. Then, the ceremony was held according to the items. Vice-President

Nyan Tun '' Thray Sithu'' Nyan Tun (; born 12 January 1954) is a Burmese politician who currently serves as a member of parliament in the House of Representatives for Zigon Township constituency. He previously served as Second Vice President of Myanmar ...

officially closed the ceremony and fireworks went round the stadium. The ASEAN Para Games responsibilities was officially handed over to Singapore, host of the

2015 ASEAN Para Games The 2015 ASEAN Para Games, officially known as the 8th ASEAN Para Games, and commonly known as Singapore 2015, was a Southeast Asian Disabled sports, disabled multi-sport event held from 3 to 9 December 2015 in the city-state of Singapore. Unli ...

Kelvin Tan Kelvin Tan Wei Lian (陈伟联, born 5 October 1981) is a Singaporean Mandopop singer who earned a living as a busker before he won the first edition of Project SuperStar in 2005. He has released three albums, '' All I Want Is...'' (2006), ' ...

from Singapore entertained with an incredible song " Treasure Every Moment " accompanied by wheel chair Samba dance. After that, the ceremony was concluded by the performance " We'll meet again " which was also performed at the 27th SEA Games Myanmar closing ceremony and then songs were sung by Myanmar famous singers and kids.

Participating nations

Around 1482 athletes had participated in the games. * (48 athletes) * (32) * (195) * (48) * (232) * (269) * (79) * (88) * (323) * (168) ;Did not enter *

East Timor Timor-Leste, also known as East Timor, officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is a country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the coastal exclave of Oecusse in the island's northwest, and ...

was absent from the 2014 games edition because of a lack of funds.

Sports

Twelve sports were contested in this edition of ASEAN Para Games. *

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 ...

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 ...

Football 5-a-side Football 5-a-side, more commonly known as blind football or blind soccer, is a variation of association football designed for players who are blind or visually impaired. It is currently a Paralympic sport, and the International Blind Sports A ...

Football 7-a-side Cerebral Palsy Football, also called ''7-a-side football'' or formerly ''Paralympic Football'', is an adaptation of association football for sportsperson, athletes with cerebral palsy and other neurological disorders, including stroke and trauma ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

Sitting Volleyball Sitting volleyball is a form of volleyball for athletes with a disability organized by World ParaVolley. As opposed to standing volleyball, sitting volleyball players must sit on the floor to play. History Sitting volleyball was invented in t ...

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 ...

Medal table

A total of 1000 medals, comprising 359 gold medals, 330 silver medals and 311 bronze medals were awarded to athletes. The host Myanmar's performance was their second best in ASEAN Para Games history, and were placed fifth overall among participating nations.

References

External links

2014 ASEAN Para Games official website

2014 ASEAN Para Games Facebook page
{{ASEAN Para Games ASEAN ParaGames ASEAN ParaGames ASEAN Para Games ASEAN Paragames Multi-sport events in Myanmar ASEAN Paragames 21st century in Naypyidaw ASEAN Paragames