19th Asian Games kick-starts in China’s Hangzhou
- The President of China, Xi Jinping declared the 19th Asian Games open on September 23, 2023.
- The 2022 Asian Games will be held from 23 September to 8 October 2023 in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China.
- The Game was originally scheduled to take place from 10 to 25 September 2022, however it was postponed to 2023 on 6 May 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Hangzhou is the third Chinese city to host the Asian Games. The other two cities are Beijing in 1990 and Guangzhou in 2010.
- The Indian flag bearers during the opening ceremony were Indian men’s hockey team captain Harmanpreet Singh and women’s boxing 75kg category Olymypic bronze medallist Lovlina Borgohain.
Key Features of the 19th Asian Games (Asiad)
- More than 12,000 athletes from 45 countries will be taking part in the 19th Asian Games.
- The Games will feature 481 events in 40 sports across 61 disciplines.
- The 19th edition of the Asian Games have three mascots. All three of which are robots, named as Chenchen, Congcong, and Lianlian, and represent the city’s vibrant culture and heritage.
- They have been collectively named ‘Memories of Jiangnan’.
- The official motto of the 2022 Asian Games, “Heart to Heart, @Future”.
- The official theme song of the Games, “With You and Me”.