Mumbai: The 19th Asian Games have officially been declared open by Chinese President Xi Jinping in Hangzhou. The 19th Asian Games were scheduled to take place in 2022,
More than 12,000 contestants from 45 countries and territories will compete in 40 sports after being postponed by a year due to China’s now-abandoned zero-Covid rule.
The opening ceremony will be presided over by Xi Jinping in front of luminaries like Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who is visiting China for the first time since the start of the Syrian conflict in 2011.
Leaders from Cambodia, Kuwait, and Nepal will also be present at the “Big Lotus,” an 80,000-seat Olympic stadium in Hangzhou.
Roads in the arena’s vicinity were restricted for security reasons, and police officers were posted at street corners.
Before entering, spectators underwent comprehensive security checks, and staff members seized food items and umbrellas—at least the light rain from earlier in the day had stopped.
A few hundred meters from the stadium, a military chopper was parked on a section of grass that was enclosed by fencing.
The University of Edinburgh’s Jung-Woo Lee, a sport policy expert, told AFP that the Games were “China’s post-pandemic softpower exercise.”
However, a dispute between New Delhi and China has already shaken them, leading to the cancellation on Friday of a trip to the city by the Union Sports Minister.
Three female martial arts competitors from Arunachal Pradesh, which Beijing claims nearly entirely, complained that they had been refused entry and accreditation. China disputes that.
Xi urged Asian countries to “use sport to promote peace, and insist on being good to our neighbors and achieving mutual benefit and win-win results” in an address prior to the opening ceremony.
Due to sudden lockdowns and stringent travel restrictions, practically all international events were cancelled in China during the pandemic, severely harming the country’s reputation as a commercial and sporting destination.
Wei Jizhong, honorary life vice-president of the Olympic Council of Asia, stated that the purpose of having so many sports is to provide as many athletes with opportunities as feasible.
Wei Jizhong, honorary life vice-president of the Olympic Council of Asia, stated that the purpose of having so many sports is to provide as many athletes with opportunities as feasible.
“All are welcome here. This indicates that our Games are not restricted to professional athletes only, ” he remarked.
Football, cricket, volleyball, and table tennis have all started even though the Games don’t start until Saturday.
The Games will be held in 54 locations, 14 of which are brand-new, largely in Hangzhou but also in Wenzhou, 300 miles (180 kilometers) south.
Hangzhou, a city of 12 million people an hour’s bullet train from Shanghai, is the unofficial home of China’s tech industry and the Games will feature driverless buses, robot dogs and facial recognition.
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