Over 15,000 athletes from 45 Asian countries will compete for 481 sets of medals in 40 sports
A delegation of Kazakhstan participated in the opening ceremony of the 19th Asian Summer in China’s Hangzhou. The large-scale event took place at the Big Lotus Stadium, which can seat 80,000 spectators, Kazinform reports via the Ministry of Tourism and Sports.
Chinese President Xi Jinping, leaders and officials from dozens of Asian countries, including Minister of Tourism and Sport of Kazakhstan Yermek Marzhikpayev attended the event.
The ceremony included performances by artists, digital light show, lighting up the Asian Games flame and the procession of athletes. The flag bearers of the Kazakh team are world boxing champion Aslanbek Shymbergenov and bronze medalist of the World Athletics Championships Nadezhda Dubovitskaya.
“The entire Asia watched the opening ceremony of the 19th Asian Summer Games today. Our team is set a task of justifying fans’ expectations and surpassing the results of the last Asian Games. The national team has been preparing for these competitions for a long time. The athletes will fight for medals, and we, in turn, intend to hold a number of bilateral meetings with our foreign partners,” said Yermek Marzhikpayev.
524 athletes (262 men and 262 women) will represent Kazakhstan at the Games in 30 sports, 27 of which are Olympic ones. Three competitions are non-Olympic events. The athletes will also compete for the Paris Olympic Games quotas in eight sports: boxing, archery, modern pentathlon, swimming, breaking, field hockey, tennis and track-and-field.
Over 15,000 athletes from 45 Asian countries will compete for 481 sets of medals in 40 sports.
Photo: Ministry of Tourism and Sport.
