NAGOYA, Japan (AP) — The Asian Games open Saturday in Nagoya, Japan, and are often identified as the second most important multisports event after the Summer Olympic Games.
They date from the first edition in 1951 in New Delhi, India, and were last held in 2023 in Hangzhou, China. Those games were delayed a year because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The previous games were in 2018 in Jakarta, Indonesia, and this is Japan's third time as the host.
Here's
a by-the numbers look at the Asian Games that run from Saturday through Oct. 4.
A lone Italian cruise ship, the Costa Serena, will function as a floating athletes villages with accommodation for up to 5,000 athletes and officials. Athletes will also be housed in hotels and in converted containers. The games will not offer a formal athletes village as organizers hope to save money after billions were spent on the Tokyo Olympics, held in 2021 after a year's delay because of COVID-19.
Nagoya is Japan's third largest metropolitan area behind Tokyo and Osaka. It's an industrial city located in central Japan on the Pacific coast with a metro population of about 9.5 million.
This is the number sports to be contested. Some are familiar Olympic disciplines. Others can be found only in the Asian Games. They include the team sports of kabaddi and sepaktakraw and martial arts like jiujitsu and a style of wrestling called kurash. Sports like teqball, padel and mixed marital arts have also been added.
Of course, there are old standbys like track and field, swimming and soccer.
This is the number of countries and regions participating. North Korea is sending about 100 athletes. That's down from almost 200 in China three years ago. North Korea did not go to Japan for the Tokyo Olympics.
The list runs from Afghanistan to Yemen. In addition, an Olympic Council of Asia refugee team is entered.
The number of gold medals China won in 2023. It was followed by Japan with 52 and South Korea with 42. The next three were India (28), Uzbekistan (22) and Taiwan (19).
Host Japan is sending the most athletes with about 900. China, with 1.4 billion people, is sending 815 and Hong Kong, with a population of only 7.5 million, is sending about 580 — an extraordinary number for such a small region.
China's delegation includes swimming prodigy Yu Zidi. As a 12-year-old last year at the swimming World Championships in Singapore, she finished fourth in all three of her individual races: 200- and 400-meter individual medley, and the 200 butterfly. She also earned bronze in a relay, though she did not swim in the final.
The 2024 Paris Olympics fielded about 10,700 athletes. The Asian Games will have more than 11,000. The Asian Games may not be as prestigious as the Summer Olympics, but they are larger in participation.
Organizers have not been clear about exactly how many athletes are signed up. They say about 17,000 officials and more than 11,000 athletes are registered and have acknowledged numbers have soared above expectations in the last several months.
Almost 12,000 athletes competed three years ago in the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China. Nagoya seems likely to reach that level.
A last-minute crunch to find enough rooms has also been reported. Hotel rooms in Japan are typically small and this has drawn scrutiny from some athlete groups. Basketball players, as often happens, have said the beds are too short.
Imroze Ahmed, the head of the delegation from Bangladesh, acknowledged some problems but said they should be “settled” in a few days as the games get rolling.
“You can't blame anyone for this,” he said. “Such a big organization, big events.”
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