What is FESPIC Games?
FESPIC Federation (formerly spelled out as Far East and South Pacific Games Federation for the disabled) is the sports organisation for the persons with disability in Asia and South Pacific with the following objectives:
The 1st Games were held in Oita, Japan in 1975 under the leadership of the late Dr Nakamura, and the 8th Games were held in Busan, Korea in October 2002 with 2,199 participants from 40 countries and territories in the region.
History
The sports for persons with disability, through its promotion, can be a great resource for nation-building to make the public to have more understanding toward those persons, as well as to form a great impact on the a national policy for the welfare for the disabled. Back to 1960's in Japan, there was a revolutionary changes on those aspects after the successful hosting of 1964 Paralympics, the first Games in Asian region.
However, it was still a special situation only for Japan; in 1970's while the sports for the persons with disability received more recognition in Europe, the situation was awfully opposite in Asia and South Pacific region, where even the basic human rights and social status for the disabled people had not been achieved in many countries.0At the moment in Asia and South Pacific, sports for the disabled was just entering the introductory phase, and sport organizations were just being formed. Under such circumstances sufficient national support was difficult to receive. Without sufficient funding, participation to the international events, mostly held in Europe, was a rare extremity.
In order to make such opportunities possible as Japan once earned a lot through, the leaders at the time persisted on their effort to organize an event which athletes of Asia and South Pacific could easily participate in. That images, through the tremendous effort of founders, became reality as the FESPIC Games in 1975.
