In May 2000, delegates from the countries in Southeast Asia attending the Malaysian Paralympiad in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia had a meeting and agreed to establish a disabled sport organisation. The ASEAN Para Games was conceptualised by Zainal Abu Zarin, the founding president of the Malaysian Paralympic Council. The proposed rationale was that a regional sports event will be held after the Southeast Asian Games and help promoting friendship and solidarity among persons with disabilities in the ASEAN region and rehabilitating and integrating persons with disability into mainstream society. Ten countries, Brunei, Myanmar, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam were the founding members. These countries agreed to hold the Games biennially on 28 April 2001 and ASEAN Para Sports Federation was formed on 23 October 2001 with Pisal Wattanawongkiri, president of the Paralympic Committee of Thailand who proposed the games' name, being elected as its first president. The first ASEAN Para Games was held in Kuala Lumpur from 26–29 October 2001 comprising more than 700 athletes and officials from Brunei, Myanmar, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam participating in 2 sports. At the 2nd ASEAN Para Games in Vietnam, East Timor was admitted into the federation as a provisional member.
Logo
The logo of the ASEAN Para Games depicting the ASEAN logo positioned in the center with the symbol of the 1994–2004 Paralympic logoon top and a victory laurel surrounding the ASEAN logo. It is used on all ASEAN Para Games edition logos since 2008. Previously, an unofficial symbol resembled the red colour version of the Southeast Asian Games Federation logo depicting the 11 red rings forming a circle was used on the logos of the 2003 ASEAN Para Games and 2005 ASEAN Para Games. Furthermore, the 1994–2004 Paralympic logo was used on the logo of the 2001 ASEAN Para Games.
Seven participating countries have hosted the ASEAN Para Games. Malaysia has hosted three Para Games, more than any nation. The 5th ASEAN Para Games in 2009 were to be hosted by Laos, but it begged off from hosting the games due to financial difficulty and inexperience in providing necessary support for athletes with disabilities, therefore the games was brought back to Malaysia for the second time after eight years. The 10th ASEAN Para Games scheduled to be hosted by the Philippines were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Philippines has hosted one Para Games, and is set to host its second games in 2020. Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, Myanmar and Singapore had hosted their first ASEAN Para Games. Cambodia will host their first ASEAN Para Games in 2023, Laos will host the first time in 2027 and Brunei will host the first time in 2029. East Timor have yet to host their first ASEAN Para Games.
1East Timor was formally included in the Games, increasing its member countries to eleven.
2Originally planned to be held in Laos.
List of sports
Nineteen different sports have been part of the ASEAN Para Games in one point or another. Sixteen of which comprised the schedule of the recent 2017 ASEAN Para Games in Kuala Lumpur. The games saw the return of sailing as a full medal sport once again after its debut at the 2009 ASEAN Games in Kuala Lumpur. Main sports
Boccia, ten-pin bowling, sailing and wheelchair fencing were demonstrated at the 2005 ASEAN Para Games.
All-time medal table
The table below accounts for the total number of medals awarded to all participating National Paralympic Committees of ASEAN member countries as of the recent 2017 ASEAN Para Games.
