The idea of the Asian Track and Field Championships was first conceived during the 1962 Asian Games held in Jakarta by Maj Gen Aziz Salleh, the then President of the Indonesian Federation. Later, similar proposals of holding it came from Malaysian AAU President Tan Sri Mohamed Ghazali Shafie, at the 1966 Asian Games, and then by Sardar Umrao Singh of India in 1970.
Finally, the organisation became a reality when Governor Jose C. Sering, President of the Philippines Track and Field Association, took the pilot’s seat and successfully organised the first Asian Track and Field Championships in Marikina Stadium, near Manila, in November 1973.