Upcoming 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China and Nepal's Participation
The upcoming edition of the Asian Games (ASIAD) is being held in Hangzhou, China. The 19th edition of the Asian Games will be held from September 23 to October 8 in Hangzhou, which has a unique example of art and culture.
Earlier, the 19th Asian Games was scheduled to be held in China from September 10 to 25, 2022. But the competition could not be held on that date due to the global spread of the coronavirus epidemic. After that, the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) announced the new date of the competition.
In the 72-year-long history of the Asian Games, the number of players participating in the tournament this time will set a new record. The first edition of the Asian Games was held in 1951 in New Delhi, India.
This time, a record 12,500 players will participate in the tournament. According to OCA, names of 12,500 players have been registered to participate in the tournament.
Players from 45 countries will participate in the tournament. There are currently 45 countries as members of the OCA. Earlier in the 18th edition of the Asian Games, a maximum of 11,300 athletes participated. The 18th Asian Games were held in Jakarta and Palembang, Indonesia in 2018.
The funny part is that this time, more athletes are participating in the Asian Games than the Olympics, the biggest competition in the world. 11,420 athletes from 206 nations participated in the last Summer Olympic Games held in Tokyo, Japan in 2020.
In the upcoming Asian Games, Thailand, Japan, South Korea, India, Hong Kong and the host China are going to have around 600 athletes participating. The time to register players for the 19th Asian Games is over.
"Looking at the final state of player registration, it is confirmed that 12,500 players from 45 countries will participate," the statement issued by the organizing committee said, "The number of players has also set a record."
The 42nd General Assembly of the Olympic Council of Asia held in Thailand this month has decided to allow five hundred athletes from Russia and Belarus who have been selected for the Olympic Games to be held in Paris, France, to participate in the Hangzhou Asiad.
Based on the decision of OCA, if Russia and Belarus also participate their players, the number of players will increase in Hangzhou Asiad. But players from Russia and Belarus will be invited to participate in the Hangzhou Asiad as guest players.
In the 19th Asiad, 483 events of 40 games have been included. For the competition, 54 sports venues have been prepared in the five co-hosting cities of Heizang. Asiad games will be held in 6 cities namely Hangzhou, Ningbo, Wenzhou, Huzhou, Shaoxing and Jinhua.
Similarly, athletes from most countries have registered their names for the athletics games in Hangzhou Asiad. More than 30 countries have participated in 11 sports including boxing, aquatics, shooting, weightlifting and e-sports. Most of the players are in the football game.
In the first Asian Games held in 1951, a total of 489 players from 11 countries competed. 970 players from 18 countries participated in the second edition held in Manila, Philippines in 1954.
Similarly, 45 countries have started participating in the Asian Games since the Doha edition of Qatar held in 2006. In the history of the Asian Games, the number of athletes has exceeded 10,000 since the 18th edition in Indonesia in 2018.
In addition to this, keeping in mind the upcoming Asian Games, the host country China is also going to operate a state-of-the-art bullet train. The high-speed bullet train, which will be launched with the logo of the 19th Asiad, will connect the participants of the competition with 6 'venues'.
Throughout the duration of the tournament, the bullet train will continue to run from Hangzhou, the main host city of the Asian Games, to five other co-host cities. According to the news, bullet trains with a capacity of 578 passengers will run at a speed of 380 km per hour.
The bullet train is decorated in rainbow colors. Purple color has been used a lot in it. The logo of the 19th Asiad is also decorated in the same color. It is said that all kinds of facilities will be provided for the passengers in the train, starting from the latest communication.
Likewise, the medals to be awarded to the winners of the 19th edition of the Asian Games have also been prepared. On the occasion of 100 days left for the start of the competition, a special program was organized and the gold, silver and bronze medals were announced.
The medal awarded to the winning players of the Hangzhou Asiad is named 'San Sui'. 'San Sui' means 'lake and mountain'. According to the news, the medal was designed in harmony with the 5000-year-old Chinese civilization. The geographical situation of Hangzhou is also reflected in the design of the medal. That is why the name of the medal is 'San Sui' meaning 'lake and mountain'.
The local organizer of the competition also selected Liangzhou, a place of cultural and archeological importance, to announce the medals. The ancient place was registered in the heritage list by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
The Asian Games will be held in China for the third time. In 1990, the Asian Games were held for the first time in Beijing, China. Then in 2010, Guangzhou, China hosted the Asian Games for the second time.
Asian Games and Nepal
Nepal has been participating in the Asian Games since the first edition. The first edition of the Asian Games was held in 1951 in New Delhi, the capital of India. In the first edition, Nepal participated with nine officials. In the first edition, Nepal only participated in athletics games.
Since then, Nepal has been participating in every edition of the Asian Games. After 35 years of participation in the first edition, Nepal was able to win a medal in the Asian Games.
Nepal won a medal for the first time in 10th edition held in Seoul, South Korea in 1986. In that edition of the Asian Games, Nepal won a total of eight bronze medals in boxing and taekwondo.
At that time Bidhan Lama, Rajkumar Rai, Rajkumar Buche and Ram Bahadur Gharti Chhetri won bronze medals in taekwondo. On the boxing side, Dal Bahadur Ranamagar, Tul Bahadur Thapa, Manoj Bahadur Shrestha and Sushil Pokharel won bronze medals.
In the 72-year long history of participation in the Asian Games, Nepal has not been able to climb higher than silver in the medal table. Nepal has won two silver medals in the Asian Games so far. Those two medals are the biggest achievement of Nepal in the history of Asian Games.
Taekwondo player Savita Raj Bhandari won silver medal for Nepal for the first time in 13th Asian Games held in Bangkok, Thailand in 1998. Then in 2018, Nepal's paragliding team won the silver medal in the 18th Asian Games held in Jakarta and Palembang, Indonesia. Bimal Adhikari, Bijay Gautam, Sushil Gurung, Yukesh Gurung and Vishal Thapa participated in the silver medal winning Nepali paragliding team.
Overall, Nepal has won only 25 medals including two silver and 23 bronze in the Asian Games so far. Nepal has won one silver and 14 bronze medals in Taekwondo, one silver medal in paragliding, six bronze medals in boxing and three bronze medals in karate.
Nepal is going to participate in 29 games in the 19th Asian Games to be held in Hangzhou, China. At the initial stage, Nepal decided to participate in only 23 games in the upcoming Asiad.
At that time, Nepal decided to participate in 23 sports including taekwondo, karate, boxing, athletics, cycling, football, golf, judo, swimming, triathlon, wushu, wrestling, weightlifting, archery, basketball, fencing, handball, kabaddi, table tennis, volleyball, badminton, cricket and shooting.
After that, the board meeting of the National Sports Council decided to add five sports namely rugby, squash, tennis, e-sports and dance sports. The board meeting decided to request a budget of 29 million rupees from the government for 28 games.
But not even a week after the board meeting was held, National Sports Council advanced the preparations to add one more game at the request of Nepal Rafting and Canoeing Association. Accordingly, it is now said that Nepal will participate in 29 games in the upcoming Ashad.
