The Central Asian Games is an international

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 ...

organised by the Central Asian Olympic Committee and held every two years since

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

among athletes from

Central Asia Central Asia is a region of Asia consisting of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the Persian language, Pers ...

n countries and territories of the

Olympic Council of Asia The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) is a sports governing body, governing body of sports in Asia, currently with 45 member National Olympic Committees. Talal Fahad Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah was elected as President of the OCA on 8 July 2023. However, on 3 ...

, especially formerly members of the

Union of Soviet Socialist Republics The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until it dissolved in 1991. During its existence, it was the largest country by are ...

. The Central Asian Games is one of five subregional Games of the

. The others are the East Asian Youth Games, the

South Asian Games The South Asian Games is a quadrennial multi-sport event held among athletes from South Asia. The South Asia Olympic Council, which was formed in 1983, governs it. The Games consist of seven countries, namely Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, N ...

, the

Southeast Asian Games The Southeast Asian Games, commonly known as SEA Games is a biennial multi-sport event involving participants from the current 11 countries of Southeast Asia. The games are under the regulation of the Southeast Asian Games Federation with sup ...

, and the

West Asian Games The West Asian Games (abbreviated as the WAG) is a multi-sport event held among the athletes from West Asia. The West Asian Games was first organised in Tehran, Iran and was considered as the first of its kind. The success of the Games led to th ...

History

In April 1994, President of the

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; , CIO) is the international, non-governmental, sports governing body of the modern Olympic Games. Founded in 1894 by Pierre de Coubertin and Demetrios Vikelas, it is based i ...

Juan Antonio Samaranch visited

Tashkent Tashkent (), also known as Toshkent, is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Uzbekistan, largest city of Uzbekistan. It is the most populous city in Central Asia, with a population of more than 3 million people as of April 1, 2024. I ...

Uzbekistan , image_flag = Flag of Uzbekistan.svg , image_coat = Emblem of Uzbekistan.svg , symbol_type = Emblem of Uzbekistan, Emblem , national_anthem = "State Anthem of Uzbekistan, State Anthem of the Republ ...

. During the meeting, President of Uzbekistan

Islam Karimov Islam Abduganiyevich Karimov (30 January 1938 – 2 September 2016) was an Uzbek politician who served as the first president of Uzbekistan, from the country's independence in 1991 until his death in 2016. He was the last First Secretary of the ...

asked him about the possibility of hosting the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...

in Tashkent, to which the IOC President replied that for this, at the request of the

Olympic Charter The Olympic Charter is a set of rules and guidelines for the organisation of the Olympic Games, and for governing the Olympic movement. Its last revision was on the 17th of July 2020 during the List of IOC meetings, 136th IOC Session, held by v ...

, serious competitions, at least regional ones, should be held. After this, a meeting of the heads of the National Olympic Committees of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan was held in Tashkent, at which a decision was made to organize the Central Asian Games. Despite the fact that the games should be held every two years, for various reasons they have been canceled more than once, and after 2005 have not actually been held. The Games where scheduled to be revived for 2021 after National Olympic Committee Chairs from the respective countries met in Kazakhstan in February 2020.

Participating nations

All seven nations whose

National Olympic Committee A National Olympic Committee (NOC) is a national constituent of the worldwide Olympic movement. Subject to the controls of the International Olympic Committee, NOCs are responsible for organizing their people's participation in the Olympic Games ...

s are recognized by the Central Asian Olympic Committee and one nation whose

is recognized by the East Asian Olympic Committee. * ( National Olympic Committee of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan; AFG) * (

National Olympic Committee of the Islamic Republic of Iran The National Olympic Committee of the Islamic Republic of Iran () is the National Olympic Committee (NOC) for Iran, and the governing body of Olympic sports in Iran. It was founded in 1947 and is headquartered in Tehran. Presidents * Mahmoud K ...

; IRI) * ( National Olympic Committee of the Republic of Kazakhstan; KAZ) * (

National Olympic Committee of the Kyrgyz Republic National Olympic Committee of the Kyrgyz Republic (), (also referred to as the Kyrgyzstan, Kyrgyz Republic) an organization representing Kyrgyzstan in the international Olympic movement. Founded in 1991 and registered with the International Oly ...

; KGZ) * ( National Olympic Committee of the Republic of Tajikistan; TJK) * ( National Olympic Committee of Turkmenistan; TKM) * ( National Olympic Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan; UZB)

Former participants

* ( Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee; TPE)¹ ¹Participated only in 1999, as an invitee.Central Asian Games set to be revived after officials schedule event for 2021
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Editions

Sports

Thirteen sports were presented in Central Asian Games history.

Medal table

References

* Bell, Daniel (2003). ''Encyclopedia of International Games'' (Pg. 108). McFarland and Company, Inc. Publishers, Jefferson, North Carolina. . {{Sport-event-stub Asian international sports competitions Recurring sporting events established in 1995 Multi-sport events in Asia Sport in Central Asia