A total of 1,820 athletes representing 20 Asian National Olympic Committees (NOCs) participated in the Games.

The first edition was held in the capital city of India, New Delhi, in 1951, attracting 489 competitors from 11 nations.

[6] The relay officially began from the main venue of the Second Asian Games, Rizal Memorial Coliseum, in Manila, Philippines.

The Thai delegation held a meeting on 22 May 1958 in Tokyo, and invitations were sent to the representatives of Malaysia, Burma and Laos.

The agenda of the meeting was to discuss the possibility of forming a regional multi-sport event on the lines of Asian Games for the countries of Southeast Asia.

The ceremony, among other dignitaries and guests, included the Emperor of Japan Hirohito, crown prince Akihito and Shah of Iran Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.

[9] In the following calendar for the 1958 Asian Games, each blue box represents an event competition, such as a qualification round, on that day.

The Japanese 4 × 100 metres medley relay team of Keiji Hase (backstroke), Masaru Furukawa (breaststroke), Manabu Koga (freestyle) and Takashi Ishimoto (butterfly) won the gold medal with a time of 4:17.2 and broke the world record.