- Gordon Dumoulin
Hangzhou is ready to rock but needs to have patience...
𝘏𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘻𝘩𝘰𝘶 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘬 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦
𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 10,000 𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘴...
After the announcement in May that 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝟭𝟵𝘁𝗵 𝗔𝘀𝗶𝗮𝗻 𝗚𝗮𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗛𝗮𝗻𝗴𝘇𝗵𝗼𝘂 would be postponed until next year (originally scheduled for September this year), last week the new dates were set : September 23 - October 8, 2023.
44 venues will be used for the Games, including 30 existing facilities and 14 newly-constructed venues. Most venues are within Hangzhou and its districts, while other events will be held in Deqing, Jinhua, Ningbo, Shaoxing and Wenzhou. A new high-speed rail line has been constructed between Hangzhou and Huzhou for the Games.
More than 10,000 athletes and officials from 45 countries and territories are expected and 42 sports including esport (electronic sport) and break dancing are on the program. It is also the first time that countries from Oceania will officially participate after being guest participants in the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Asian Games.
The first Asian Games in its current form were held in 1951 in New Delhi with 11 nations and almost 500 participants. Jakarta-Palembang in 2018 saw 45 nations visiting with 11,300 participants (about the same number of participants as the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics).
Asian Games 1951 in New Delhi (source Wikipedia)
The Asian Games, also knows as the Asiad were organized by the Asian Games Federation until the 1978 Games in Bangkok after which the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) took over the organization and officially recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), described as the second largest multi-sport event after the Olympic Games.
1951 though was not the first light of multi-country Games in Asia. The first 𝗙𝗮𝗿 𝗘𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽 𝗚𝗮𝗺𝗲𝘀 were held in 1913 at the Manila Carnival grounds (later the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex) in Malate, Manila, the Philippines, also called "the first Oriental Olympic Games" with participation of the Republic of China, Philippines, Empire of Japan, British East Indies (Malaysia), the Kingdom of Thailand (Siam) and Hong Kong.
1913 Far Eastern Games in Manila (source Philippine Football History)
There were 10 Far Eastern Championship Games, almost every 2 years held until 1934. The Republic of China, Philippines and Empire of Japan participated in all games while other states such as above-mentioned and India and the Dutch East Indies participated once in these series of Games.
When the full-scale 2nd Sino-Japanese War broke out in 1937, Japan insisted to include the Japanese occupied 'Manchu Empire' in the North-East of China (invaded in 1931) as a sovereign nation in the 1938 Games. China announced its withdrawal from further participation and the 1938 Games were cancelled. The organization was discontinued thereafter.
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有天堂, 下有苏杭 "the skies have heaven, the earth has Hangzhou and Suzhou"
The amazing city Hangzhou welcomes Asia in 2023 !
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Source Hangzhou pictures : chinainsider IG