There had been Far Eastern Games which originally featured China, Japan and The Philippines. They were hailed by International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Baron Pierre de Coubertin for what he described as "their remarkable work". 

In the 1930s, at the urging of Indian official Guru Dutt Sondhi, known as G.D Sondhi, West Asian Games were founded for the nations east of Suez and west of Singapore.

In 1947, India became independent and that year, a major conference of Asian nations was held in Delhi.

Sondhi was determined to take advantage of this gathering to develop sport in the region. He enlisted the help of His Highness Shri Yadvindra Singh, Maharaja of Patiala, who was President of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA). With his support, the idea of "Asiatic" Games were first mooted.

Later, at the suggestion of Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, the name was changed to "Asian Games".

Nehru proved a big supporter of the concept. "Athletic contests are good from the point of view of developing in friendship and rivalry, the youth of the nation," he said.

The possibility of organising Asian Games was discussed when the various Indian sports met in Lucknow in 1947 but without any firm decisions being made.

The following year was an Olympic year. Indian hockey had been a dominant force since 1928, and they proved the headline act in London with a gold medal.

Sondhi was also in London and a meeting was called "to consider the formation of an Asian Games Federation". 

Jorge Vargas led a delegation of three from The Philippines and was to be a leading light in the organisation. There were also representatives of Burma, now Myanmar, and Ceylon, now Sri Lanka.

An "invitation meet" was planned for Delhi as a pilot event but this did not take place.

Instead, in February 1949, there was a meeting of eight nations in India. This gathering put proceedings on a formal level.

The conference was chaired by the Maharaja of Patiala who was elected President of the new organisation. It was resolved that the Asian Games should go ahead as soon as possible.

Vargas became a vice president and Sondhi the secretary/treasurer. It was Sondhi who designed the flag of what was originally known as the Asian Games Federation (AGF).

This was "a blazing sun surrounded by 11 rings, one for each competing nation on a background of white, the colour of peace".

The meeting decided that the first Games would be held in Delhi in March 1950, to be followed by a second "Asiad" in Manila in 1954.

The local Organising Committee gathered for the first time in April 1949 at the National Sports Club of India.

The Indian Health Minister Rajkumari Amrit Kaur headed proceedings which appointed a Working Committee. Sondhi was put in charge of the Executive Committee.

However, Sondhi resigned from the post of Games director in early 1950. He was replaced by another prominent sports official, Anthony De Mello.

Originally the Games were to have been held in 1950, but eventually the date was put back a year to March 1951.

"It was actually the lack of a stadium that stood in the way," admitted IOA general secretary Moin Ul Haq.

De Mello went so far as to say that "few people realised how very near the first Asiad came to being abandoned altogether".

He used his own considerable contacts in the world of sport. The Commander in Chief of the Indian Army offered military buildings to be used as a Village for the athletes and officials.

De Mello persuaded the sporting goods firm Lillywhites to let them have modern track and field equipment. In an early example of sustainability, some of the goods would also be used at the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki.

Finance was a major problem for the organisers. There was no Government support. The Indian Sporting Club loaned the IOA funds for use on the Games.

Patrons were invited to the Games at a cost of 10,000 rupees. Vice patrons were at 5,000 rupees and there were a maximum of 10,000 life members at 1,000 rupees. 

After the delays, the stadium was finally ready in January and Prime Minister Nehru was in philosophical mood when he cut the tape in front of a crowd of 15,000.

"There are so many things that we dream of doing and plan to do but somehow dreams remain dreams and plans remain plans," he said. "It is satisfying to see accomplished, something which we intended doing."

Even then, the political situation in Asia meant that there was by no means a full complement of nations. In the early 1950s, the Korean peninsula had exploded into war.

Japan had been excluded from all international sport after the Second World War, although they made it known that they wished to participate.

In 1950, the IOC gave recognition to the new Japanese Olympic Committee and announced that "the question of their participation would be considered".

Dr Ryotaru Azuma was elected as an IOC member as the pathway opened. They took part in the Olympics in 1952 but their return to international sport events came in Delhi at the Asian Games.

When they marched into the stadium, Indian newspapers noted that they had received "a special cheer".

They were even greeted at a reception by Lady Edwina, wife of the last Viceroy of India, Lord Mountbatten of Burma.

Within seven years, the Japanese had become such an integral part of the Asian Games family that Tokyo hosted the event in 1958.

Japan were the dominant force in the sports of those early Asian Games. Yet at the 1951 Asian Games there was no place for a nation which would become a powerhouse, and not only in Asian sport.

In China, there had been a bitter civil war between nationalists and communists. The question of who should be recognised and even what they would be called dogged the Olympic Movement for the next 30 years.

Although there were no competitors from China in the events, a small group of ten observers did travel to meet Nehru.

"I recall the sleepless hours of a cold early morning in March at the New Delhi airport waiting for the Chinese delegates, then the privilege of presenting them to the Prime Minister over breakfast at his home," wrote De Mello later. "I make no secret of my emotions at this moment."

Two days before the Games began came the first AGF Congress.

"It will strengthen those forces of international cooperation which normally must be the basis of secure peace," Nehru told the delegates.

The Games themselves opened on March 4, 1951. The teams marched in alphabetical order and Afghanistan were the first into the stadium. For some reason, the band played the American tunes Marching through Georgia and Swanee River.

The Games were opened by Indian President Rajendra Prasad.

A salute of guns boomed out from the Purana Qila, a 16th century fort in the city.

"This was a truly glorious glimpse of sporting Asia, throbbing with resurgent spirit," said De Mello. "It was Asia marching ever nearer to the Olympic ideal."

The ceremony had striking similarities to an Olympic opening. It even had a Torch Relay although this flaming Torch came not from Olympia. It had been lit five miles away at the Lal Qila Red Fort and carried to the stadium.

The final bearer was 53-year-old Brigadier Dalip Singh, who had competed as a long jumper in the 1924 Olympics in Paris. 

Competition took place in six sports and there were also artistic contests, but no place for cricket, even though De Mello was the leading light of the Board of Control for Cricket in India.

The sport did become part of the Games programme much later.

The home spectators were delighted by the success of Nikka Singh who won gold in the 1,500 metres.

The Times of India correspondent described his final lap as "Singh defying the physical confines of time and space as he literally burned up the cinder track".

India's football team also won gold.

The Games were closed by the Maharajah of Patiala with words similar to those used in Olympic ceremonies.

"I call upon the youth of every Asian country to assemble in four years in Manila to celebrate the second Asian Games," he said.

"May they display cheerfulness and concord so that the sports torch may be carried with greater eagerness, courage and honour for the good of humanity throughout the ages."

Only 11 nations took part in those first Games in Delhi, with around 600 competitors and officials.

By the time the curtain came down on the 2014 Asiad in the South Korean city Incheon, 45 nations had joined the family. 

The first Games in 1951 were not been forgotten. The Asian Games flame burned in Delhi once again at the start of its relay to South Korea.