Games-Profile of the Asian Games in Hangzhou
Sept 21 (Reuters) - The Asian Games officially begin on Saturday in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou, a year later than planned due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Following are some facts and figures about the 19th edition of the event:
* The Asian Games, also known as the Asiad, is a quadrennial multi-sport event. This year's edition runs from Sept. 23 to Oct. 8, though competitions in soccer, cricket, volleyball and beach volleyball began on Sept. 19.
* China is hosting the Games for the third time, having previously staged the event in the southern city of Guangzhou in 2010 and in Beijing in 1990.
* There will be 481 gold medals on offer across 61 disciplines in 40 sports, with 54 competition venues located across Hangzhou and five co-host cities in the surrounding Zhejiang province.
* More than 12,500 athletes from 45 countries are set to compete, organisers said in July, surpassing the 11,420 total at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and the previous Asian Games record of 11,300 set at Jakarta in 2018.
* Esports, which was held as a demonstration event at the 2018 Asian Games, will be a medal event with seven golds up for grabs. Breaking, also known as breakdancing, will debut as an Olympic sport at Paris 2024 and has also been included for the first time at the Asian Games.
* Competitions in archery, artistic swimming, boxing, breaking, hockey, pentathlon, sailing, tennis and water polo will serve as Olympic qualifiers for Paris.
* Dragon boat racing, wushu, board games Go and xiangqi, sepak takraw (also called kick volleyball), cricket and kabaddi are among the non-Olympic sports on the programme.
* China is the most successful nation at the Games with a gold medal tally of 1,473 and have topped the table in the last 10 editions. Japan (1,032) are in second place overall, followed by South Korea (745).
* The three nations also led the medal table at the 2018 Games - China dominated with 132 golds, with Japan winning 75 and South Korea 49.
(Reporting by Hritika Sharma in Hyderabad; Editing by Peter Rutherford )
