ABSTRACT
Even before the famous ping-pong diplomacy drew global attention to sport in geopolitics, sport events took centre stage in Asian politics and shaped international diplomacy. The short-lived but influential Games of the New Emerging Forces (GANEFO) are a prominent example as they reflect the geopolitical situation of the 1960s, with the complex setting of cooperation between members of the Non-Aligned Movement, leadership ambitions for the developing nations and conflict between the developed nations and newly decolonised countries. Although GANEFO was not able to replace the Olympic or Asian Games, the staging of the first GANEFO in Jakarta in 1963 challenged the existing sporting and political orders and must be seen as an early mega-event in Asia with impacts beyond the continent.
