This Sunday will mark the beginning of the Asian Games, a multi-sport event that occurs every four years and takes place in one of the Asian countries. China, the host city for this year’s competition, has promised another impressive opening ceremony in order to mark the beginning of the Asian Games.
The Asian Games are being held in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou two years after the 2008 Olympics were held in the country’s capital city of Beijing. The Asian Games are the second-largest multi-sports event, and this year, will be featuring an aqua-themed ceremony.
In order to get to the venue for the Asian Games, all of the athletes had to be ferried on a fleet of 45 boats to an island. The venue is shaped like the bow of a ship and will host the light, water, and flames extravaganza.
The boats that ferried the athletes to the venue site were decorated with Asian landmarks, including Japan’s Mount Fiji, Cambodia’s Angkor Wat, Jordan’s Petra, and India’s Taj Mahal. The Temple of Heaven, the Bird’s Nest, and other Chinese landmarks represented the Games’ sponsoring country.
The Asian Games will host over 10,000 different athletes this year, who are coming from 45 countries and territories. There will be 42 sports featured throughout the Games, which begin this weekend and go through November 27.
Saturday will mark the first official day of competition, and will end with 28 gold medals being awarded on this first day alone. The shooting, swimming, triathlon, judo, weightlifting, gymnastic, and dance sports will all host their finals on this day.
India’s Abhinav Bindra and Gagan Narang are expected to do well in the shooting competition, with one of them likely to take home the gold medal. Bindra is the defending Olympic champion in this event. China is likely to do to very well throughout the Asian Games as a whole and lead the way in the overall medal count.
