Motto | Overcoming Challenges, Inspiring Others |
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First event | 1975 |
Occur every | Four years |
Last event | 2006 FESPIC Games in Kuala Lumpur |
Purpose | Multi-sport event, Far East and South Pacific Games for persons with disability |
Headquarters | Malaysia |
APC President | Dato’ Zainal Abu Zarin |
Website | FESPIC Federation |
The FESPIC Games or the Far East and South Pacific Games for the Disabled, was a multi-sports games in Asia and the South Pacific region.
The FESPIC Games, which started in 1975, was held nine times and bowed out a success in December 2006, at the conclusion of the 9th FESPIC Games in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
For Asian countries, the FESPIC Games was replaced by the Asian Para Games starting with the inaugural 1st Asian Para Games in 2010 in Guangzhou, China after the 16th Asian Games. The Asian Para Games, the parallel event for athletes with physical disabilities, is a multi-sport event held every four years after every Asian Games. The FESPIC and Asian Games had adopted the strategy used by the Olympic and Paralympic Games of having both games in the same city.
The first FESPIC Games was held in Oita, Japan in 1975. There were limited opportunities for persons with disabilities in Asia and the Pacific to participate in sports at the time. The FESPIC Games was launched to address this issue and promote understanding toward disabled persons in each country, as well as improve their social welfare.
The number of participant countries increased during FESPIC history. Central Asian countries Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan, as well as Armenia and Azerbaijan, first participated in the 7th FESPIC Games in 1999. The Middle Eastern countries were allowed to compete in the 9th FESPIC Games in 2006, along with Timor-Leste. Middle East countries were previously not allowed to compete in FESPIC Games from 1975 to 2002 because these countries were Africa/Middle Eastern members.