Sporting Life: Expect a dazzling spectacle with rising standards at Asia Games

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Ignorance is never to be applauded but it can occasionally be amusing. When the Indian hockey team arrived for the 1932 Olympics in Los Angeles, a local newspaper famously wrote: "Hockey kings arrive today. They will be accompanied by their many wives. There are two lions in the team."

As Ronojoy Sen clarified in his book Nation At Play, there was only one wife travelling with the contingent and the "two lions were the two Singhs in the team". Clearly Asians in sport were only a curiosity then but now a continent of dazzling diversity is bringing varied gifts to sport.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on August 18, 2018, with the headline Sporting Life: Expect a dazzling spectacle with rising standards at Asia Games. Subscribe