History of Asia Triathlon
Asian Triathlon Confederation (ASTC) was established in 1991 to develop the future of triathlon in greater Asia. Currently 35 national federations affiliated.
International Triathlon Union was formed 1989 in France and the Constitution was approved at Avignon, it was felt in 1991 that it was long time that the most populated Contingent have not its own governing body. The time came on 28th June 1991 during the time of Beijing International Triathlon Mr. Les McDonald the President of ITU got representative from China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Korea and Singapore together and they drafted the Constitution for Asia to be known as Asian Triathlon Confederation and the abbreviation to be known as ASTC, thus it does not conflict with African Triathlon.
1992, after approving the constitution China was asked to nominate the President and they nominated Mr. Lou Dapeng, who was an Executive Board member of the International Athletic Federation and Vice President of the Asian Athletic Association at that time. Mr. Nakaji Shimizu from Japan and Mr. Hong Seoki-Kyo from Korea were elected as Vice President. Mr. Masao Nakayama from Japan was elected as Secretary General and Mr. N. Ramachandaran was elected as Treasurer.
First Asian Triathlon Championships were held 1992 at Hasaki City Japan, where teams from China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Kazakhstan, Philippines and Malaysia took part. In 1993 the 2nd championships were held at Tianjin, China. In 1994 the 3rd Championships moved to Jeju Island, Korea. The 4th Championships were held at Kota Kinabalu Malaysia in 1995. The 5th was held at Chennai, India in 1996. The 6th was held at Subic Bay, Philippines in 1997. The 7th was held in Singapore in 1998. The 8th was held in Sokcho City, Korea in 1999. The 9th was held at Gamagori, Japan in 2000. The 10th was held in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia in 2001. The 11th was held at Xuzhou, China in 2002. The 12th was held at Chennai, India in 2003. The 13th was held at Subic Bay, Philippines in 2004. The 14th was held at Changi, Singapore in 2005. 15th in Jiayuguan, China in 2006. 16th was held in Tongyeong, Korea in 2007. 17th was held Guangzhou, China in 2008. 18th was held in Incheon, Korea in 2009. 19th was held in Yilan, Chinese Taipei in 2011. 20th was held in Tateyama, Japan in in 2012. 21st was held at Subic Bay, Philippine in 2013. 22nd held at New Taipei, Chinese Taipei in 2015. 23rd was held in Hatsukaichi, Japan in 2016. 24th was held at Palembang, Indonesia 2017. 25th was held at Gyeongju, Korea in 2019. During the Asian Games year 2014 and 2018 there was no ATC but instead U23, Juniors and Para were held.
The 2nd Election Congress was held 1995 and the elected President was Mr. Lou Dapeng (China), Vice Presidents Mr. N. Ramchandaran (India) and Mr. Chiharu Igaya (Japan), Secretary General Mr. Masao Nakayama (Japan) and Treasurer Mrs. Irene Benggon Charuruks (Malaysia). In 1999 during the 3rd Election Congress the positions were unchangeable. In 4th Election Congress 2003 Mr. Yu Kyun-Sun (Korea) was elected as President, Mr. Tom Carrasco Jr. (Philippines) who was elected as Senior Vice President and Mr. Masao Nakayama (Japan) being the other Vice President. Mr. Balwant Singh Kler (Malaysia) was elected as Secretary General and Mr. David Hoong Kah Kuan (Singapore) was elected as Treasurer. There is no changes for 5th and 6th election congress. 7th Election Congress 2015 Mr. Justin Sukwon Park was elected as President, Mr. Shin Ostuka(Japan) as Senior Vice President, and Mr. Mohammad Ali Sabour(Iran) as Vice President. Mr. Vijitr Sittinawin(Thailand) was elected as Secretary General and Mr. Cheah Choon Nam from Malaysia elected as Treasurer. The EB will continue until 2019.
In the 8th election congress in 2019 Mr. Justin Sukwon (Korea) was re-elected without any opposition as President. Mr. Vijitr Sitinawin (Thailand) as senior Vice President and Mr. Rakesh Gupta (India) as second Vice President. Mr. Shin Otsuka was elected as Secretary General while Mr. Cheah Choon Nam retain his post as Treasurer for the next four years.
History by:- Datuk Balwant Singh Kler (Honorary Life Member of ASTC and AAA)