Can Asians work together?

One of the great tragedies in sport is selfishness on the part of hosts for international multi-sport events. We have heard so many stories of participating countries being “allocated” medals in certain sports, at the whim of the hosts. Also, some countries stack events to maximize their medal hauls. Sports that should only yield two medals or so are often split into many more. It is exasperating for athletes who have spent years preparing for a fair fight.

Many sports have suffered as a result of favoritism by hosts of the Olympics, Asian Games and particularly the SEA Games. Arnis, softball, windsurfing and modern pentathlon are among them. In a previous SEA Games, Indonesia hurriedly inserted a homegrown martial art, tarung derajat, into the schedule. Naturally, the hosts dominated the medal haul. This dilutes the value of medals in traditional events.

Can Asians set aside the greed and work together? When you think about it, it may appear difficult. Asia is about 50 countries and territories (depending on how you feel about China’s claims and where Russia is geographically). About 4.7 billion people live on the continent. There are more than 70 traditional martial arts in the region. Many are lobbying for inclusion in higher-level competition.

In addition, there is no unifying language, similar to Europe. In boxing, as an example, three of the top 10 countries in the sport in the world are Japan, the Philippines and Thailand. Japanese do not speak Thai, and Filipinos generally speak English and Tagalog. If you add China and many other countries with their own national languages, you see the magnitude of the problem.

However, a group or enterprising sports broadcasters is now studying how to consolidate certain sports in Asia. The plan is to create a unifying news bureau around a particular sport to begin with, blanketing the entire region. The resources required will be substantial. Travel alone will be rigorous. But it will be worth it to try. Once this takes off, it will set the bar for other countries and continents to follow. We will soon be able to learn what is going on all around the region on a daily basis.

More on this development in a future column.