Beijing:
Chinese President Xi Jinping will declare the Asian Games open at a ceremony in Hangzhou on Saturday, launching a two-week sporting spectacle with more athletes than the Olympics.
After a year’s postponement due to China’s now abandoned Zero-Covid regime, more than 12,000 participants from 45 countries and territories will compete in 40 sports.
Xi Jinping is expected to open proceedings in the presence of dignitaries including Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who is on his first visit to ally China since the war in Syria broke out in 2011.
Leaders from Cambodia, Kuwait and Nepal will also be present at the 80,000-capacity Hangzhou Olympic Stadium, also known as “the Great Lotus”.
Security in the area around the arena was tight, with roads closed and police stationed on street corners.
Spectators were given thorough security checks before entering and staff confiscated food and umbrellas – at least the light rain from earlier in the day had stopped.
A military helicopter sat on a fenced-off area of grass a few hundred yards from the stadium.
Jung-Woo Lee, a sports policy expert at the University of Edinburgh, told AFP that the Games were “China’s post-pandemic soft power exercise”.
But they have already been rocked by a row between New Delhi and China, with a visit to the city by the Union Sports Minister canceled on Friday.
It came after three female martial arts fighters from Arunachal Pradesh – which is almost entirely claimed by Beijing – said they had been denied accreditation and entry. China has denied this.
In a speech ahead of the opening ceremony, Xi urged Asian countries to “use sports to promote peace, and insist on being good to our neighbors and achieving mutual benefit and win-win results.”
China’s status as a sports and business destination took a serious hit during the pandemic, when snap lockdowns and strict travel rules forced the cancellation of almost all international events in the country.
‘Open to everyone’
The hosts are overwhelming favorites to top the medal table, with Japan and South Korea battling it out for second place.
North Korea has sent a team, ending three years of isolation from the global sporting arena.
Athletes from the Games will fight for medals in Olympic sports such as athletics, swimming, football, gymnastics and cycling.
ESports will make its debut as a medal event at the Games, in what is seen as a step towards one-day inclusion in the Olympics.
There will also be regional specialties including dragon boat racing, the Chinese martial art wushu and kabaddi.
Nine sports, including boxing, breakdancing and tennis, will serve as Asia’s qualifiers for next year’s Olympic Games in Paris.
A number of world and Olympic champions add some stardust, including Indian javelin king Neeraj Chopra, Qatari high jumper Mutaz Essa Barshim and Chinese swimming kings Qin Haiyang and Zhang Yufei.
Olympic Council of Asia Honorary Vice President Wei Jizhong said having so many sports disciplines is about giving opportunities to as many athletes as possible.
“We are open to everyone. This means that our Games are not just aimed at top athletes,” he said.
Although the Games officially start on Saturday, sports such as football, cricket, volleyball and table tennis have already started.
The Games will be held at 54 venues – 14 newly built – mainly in Hangzhou, but also extending to cities as far away as Wenzhou, 300 kilometers (180 miles) to the south.
Hangzhou, a city of 12 million people an hour’s journey from Shanghai, is the unofficial home of China’s tech industry and the Games will feature self-driving buses, robot dogs and facial recognition.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)