The APhO has its origins in the International Physics Olympiad (IPhO), an annual event first started in Warsaw in 1967 as a premier physics competition for pre-university students from around the world. In 1999, the team leader of Indonesia, Dr. Yohanes Surya, together with the late President of IPhO, Prof. Waldemar Gorzkowski, undertook to create and organize the first Asian Physics Olympiad in April 2000 in Indonesia. This event attracted participation from 12 Asian countries. Its successful implementation has been followed by the subsequent host countries, Taiwan (2001), Singapore (2002), Thailand (2003), Vietnam (2004), Indonesia (2005, second time), Kazakhstan (2006), China (2007), Mongolia (2008), Thailand (2009, second time), Taiwan (2010, second time), Israel (2011), India (2012), Indonesia (2013, third time), Singapore (2014, second time),China (2015, second time), Hong Kong (2016) and Russia (2017).
The Asian Physics Olympiad has several purposes: to assist in the preparation of Asian students towards the IPhO; to build a network among the leaders for further collaborative projects in physics education, such as creating physics competitions in their own countries, and to encourage Asian countries to participate in other international physics competitions.
Reference : The Asian Physics Olympiad http://apho.ias-ntu.org/