Appointment to Hangzhou for the Asian Games and Asian Games | Events | Asian Games

Hangzhou Olympic Sports Center Venue Cluster.

Shen Jizhong

The Asian Games mascot located in the Grand Canal Asian Games Park.

The Hangzhou Asian Games medal "Hushan" has been released.

Hangzhou Asian Games Village Athlete Village.

Shen Jizhong

In less than 100 days, the torch of the Hangzhou Asian Games will be lit, and the "Asian wind" will blow by the West Lake.

Since the successful bid in September 2015, Hangzhou has been working together with five co hosting cities, Ningbo, Wenzhou, Jinhua, Shaoxing, and Huzhou, steadily moving towards the goal of "hosting a conference well and enhancing a city". Now, the preparation work for the Hangzhou Asian Games has entered a sprint stage, and the six cities of the Asian Games are working together and warmly inviting, striving to present a sports and cultural event with "Chinese characteristics, Asian style, and splendid diversity".

The charm of Hangzhou with Chinese characteristics

On June 15th, the 100 day countdown theme event for the Hangzhou Asian Games was held at the Hangzhou Esports Center in China. At the event, the Asian Games medal "Hu Shan" was officially released, and the dynamic landscape of the medal shape sparked heated discussions online.

The design inspiration for the "Hushan" medal comes from the Liangzhu civilization, showcasing the culture of Jiangnan and the landscape of Hangzhou. The medal design for the first time integrates square jade cong and circular medals, breaking the conventional layout of placing the Asian Games logo at the center of the medal. The logo is placed on an open canvas, reflecting an open and inclusive Eastern aesthetic.

One of the major features of the preparation work for the Hangzhou Asian Games is to showcase Chinese characteristics and Hangzhou charm through innovative design and advanced technology. The Hangzhou Olympic Sports Center Swimming Pool adopts the design concept of dual venue integration, and has built the world's largest non-linear shaped venue with a connecting structure between the two venues. During the Asian Games, swimming, diving, and synchronized swimming will be held here, making it the venue with the most gold medals won at the Hangzhou Asian Games.

In addition to the eye-catching design of the venue, the "black technology" inside the venue is also remarkable. The swimming pool has a storage capacity of over 10000 tons, and with the help of a 24-hour water circulation system, the venue can maintain clean and clear pool water without changing it all year round, achieving energy conservation and efficiency improvement. Taha Suleiman Al Kishri, Secretary General of the Asian Swimming Federation, said that such a venue can be considered a "miracle of architecture" and will become one of the best swimming competition venues in the history of the Asian Games.

The Fuyang Water Sports Center will host three events during the competition: rowing, kayaking, and slalom. The roof of the venue is covered with 24000 square meters of green vegetation, which blends with the surrounding mountains and rivers, achieving functions such as carbon sequestration, oxygen release, thermal insulation, and reducing rainwater runoff. Thomas Konetzko, President of the International Canoe Federation, said that the Fuyang Aquatic Sports Center is set against the backdrop of green mountains and clear waters, which perfectly complements the canoe still water event.

Yao Gaoyuan, Vice Chairman and Secretary General of the Hangzhou Asian Games Organizing Committee and the Asian Paralympic Organizing Committee, and Mayor of Hangzhou, stated that the construction of Asian Games venues adheres to the principle of "can be changed but not built". Among the 56 competition venues, only 12 are newly built, while the other venues are renovated or temporarily built. Currently, all of them have completed the functional and barrier free acceptance of the competition.

In addition to creating a first-class competition environment, the service guarantee for the Asian Games is also very thoughtful. Li Yanyi, Vice Governor of Zhejiang Province, stated that Zhejiang has established a comprehensive service guarantee system covering all aspects of the event, including concierge, arrival and departure, transportation, accommodation, and medical care. It has also created the first digital observation service platform in the country, providing one-stop online services such as ticket purchase, travel, observation, and tourism for Asian Games spectators. 50000 competition volunteers and 1.42 million city volunteers will allow guests to feel the comfort and warmth of home.

Organizing a grand event and sharing dividends

Organize a meeting well and elevate a city. As a highly popular sports event, the Hangzhou Asian Games have continuously achieved results in creating a national sports atmosphere and promoting national fitness. The Asian Games have brought the entire city to life.

After the postponement of the Asian Games due to the epidemic, all venues of the Hangzhou Asian Games were opened to the public, becoming an excellent example of newly built comprehensive sports venues in China opening up to national fitness and mass sports before the competition. At present, the cumulative number of fitness enthusiasts received by various venues has exceeded 8 million.

Gongshu Canal Sports Park is the venue for the Asian Games table tennis, breakdancing, and hockey events. At the beginning of its design, the venue was combined with the needs of the public's fitness, fully considering the functional requirements during and after the competition. After completion, this will become the first comprehensive urban sports park in Zhejiang Province that integrates collective education centers, parks, sports fields, and commercial facilities. After the Asian Games, the entire sports park will be fully open to the public for use.

In order to maximize the benefits of the Asian Games, Hangzhou has recently released the "Ten Measures for Sports venues to Benefit the People", including measures such as low price free benefits, public welfare training benefits, and sports consumption benefits. Zhou Jinqiang, Vice Chairman of the Hangzhou Asian Games Organizing Committee and Deputy Director of the General Administration of Sport of China, said that after the Asian Games, all competition venues will continue to adhere to the principle of benefiting the people, and regularly organize sports events, cultural performances and other activities to further meet the living needs of the people.

Allowing the people to share the benefits of the Asian Games, "Returning the Pavilion to the People" is just one measure. Taking the preparation for the Asian Games as an opportunity, there are more and more sports venues around the people, and the "leftover materials" in urban space have become the "golden corners and silver edges" of national fitness. According to statistics, as of early February this year, Hangzhou has built 2243 embedded sports facilities with "three major balls", "three small balls" and goal balls as the main types throughout the city, covering a total area of 789000 square meters.

The co hosting cities also take the Asian Games as an opportunity to promote national fitness and promote sports economy. Ningbo actively builds a city of events, and the China Central and Eastern Europe International Sailing Competition made a name for itself in Dongqian Lake in May. The Asian Sailing Championships sounded the war drum in June; Wenzhou plans to apply for or organize more than 100 domestic and international sports events this year, building a relatively complete system of events; During the preparation period for the Asian Games, Jinhua built and renovated 44 sports venues of various types, and added more than 100 grassroots sports facilities every year

The warmth brought by the Asian Games is not limited to sports. Yao Gaoyuan said that Hangzhou has launched three major improvement actions to welcome the Asian Games, namely "urban quality, urban governance, and urban civilization". It has held more than 10000 "Four Entries into the Asian Games" activities and embroidered four scenic lines: "Beautiful Homeland", "Hangyun Street and Lane", "Smooth Transportation", and "Flower Full Hangzhou City". 130000 accessible points in the city have been upgraded and renovated. 297 subway entrances and exits, 28 pedestrian overpasses and tunnels, 1573 urban public toilets and other accessible points are searchable and navigable, and 24-hour free sign language "digital human" service is provided.

Athletes eagerly await

The Hangzhou Asian Games has a total of 40 major events and 61 sub events, with a total of 483 sub events set up, including the vast majority of Olympic events as well as sports and cultural characteristics such as martial arts, wicker ball, cricket, jujujutsu, and other sports in various Asian regions. It also includes emerging sports favored by young people such as skateboarding, rock climbing, and esports.

Since 1982, the Chinese delegation has consistently dominated the gold medal table at the Asian Games. At the Hangzhou Asian Games, the Chinese delegation will send over 900 athletes to compete, and they will strive to achieve excellent results and showcase a good demeanor.

At the recently held Triple Women's Basketball World Cup, the Chinese Triple Women's Basketball team finished fourth. Team leader Chai Wensheng said that defending the Asian Games title is one of the main tasks for the team this year, while also striving to qualify for the Paris Olympics through various competitions. The Chinese team should strive to complete the task by fighting on multiple fronts.

The Hangzhou Asian Games is the home ground for Chinese athletes and a stage test for Asian countries and regions preparing for the Paris Olympics. The intensity and excitement of the competition are worth looking forward to. Liu Guoliang, Chairman of the China Table Tennis Association, said that the Hangzhou Asian Games is the last comprehensive sports event before the Paris Olympics. In terms of competition pressure and atmosphere, the examination of athletes is more comprehensive than that of the World Table Tennis Championships.

Electronic sports, breakdancing, and other sports that have entered the Asian Games for the first time are becoming increasingly popular among young people. Recently, the official Asian e-sports event, "Journey to the Asian Games", jointly initiated by the Olympic Council of Asia and the Asian e-sports Federation, opened in Macau. This "outpost" of the Asian Games has attracted many young spectators.

At present, the registration for the second phase of the Hangzhou Asian Games has been successfully completed, and all Olympic Committees from 45 Asian countries and regions have registered to participate. Many have sent the largest sports delegation in history, and many national and regional Olympic Committees have listed the Hangzhou Asian Games as the most important event of this year. Asian athletes from various countries and regions are full of expectations for the Hangzhou Asian Games.

In the women's vault final of the recent Asian Gymnastics Championships, the legendary 48 year old Qiushovikina performed exceptionally well and won the runner up. She said she will continue to prepare for the Hangzhou Asian Games and win the medal for Uzbekistan in this important event.

The Bahrain delegation will send a delegation of about 300 people to the Hangzhou Asian Games, which is the largest scale since the country participated in the Asian Games. Bahrain's Olympic Committee Secretary General Faris said that the Bahraini people are eagerly looking forward to the Hangzhou Asian Games.

Bangladesh will send about 200 athletes to participate in the Hangzhou Asian Games and will compete in electronic sports events. The Secretary General of the Bangladesh Olympic Committee, Said Shahid Reza, said that he is very looking forward to watching the exciting events of the Asian Games in Hangzhou and hopes that Bangladeshi athletes can achieve good results.

Huo Qigang, Vice President of the Hong Kong Sports Association and Olympic Committee of China, and Head of the Hong Kong delegation to the Hangzhou Asian Games, said that the Hong Kong delegation will send its largest team since participating in the Asian Games, hoping to achieve the best results at the Hangzhou Asian Games held in its own country.

Our reporter Liu Xi