BSS, South Korea :
The 2014 Asian Games, the largest sporting event in Asia governed by Olympic Council of Asia (OCA), is going to commence today (Friday) in Incheon, South Korea with 439 events in 36 sports and disciplines set to feature in the Games.
The ceremony will start at 6 pm KST at the Incheon Asiad Main Stadium in South Korea.
Lim Kwon-Taek, renowned for his popular films in South Korea, is in charge of the ceremonies while play writer and actor Jang Jin is artistic director.
“Unlike the previous Asian Games and Olympics that focused on flaunting their national power, such as 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games, 2012 London Olympics, and 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2014 Incheon Asian Games won’t simply show off a scale but try to deliver a clear message, ‘4.5 billion Asians’ dream, Asia as one.
Incheon is the third city in South Korea after Seoul (1986) and Busan (2002) to host the Asian Games.
The Games bring together about 13,000 athletes for a 16-day multi-sport spectacular second only in scale to the Summer Olympics.
From weightlifting to wushu, rowing to rugby sevens and swimming to sepak takraw, the Games will showcase elite Asian talent in 28 Olympic and eight non-Olympic sports from tomorrow until October 4, with a total of 439 gold medals up for grabs.
There are 49 competition venues and 48 training facilities that will be used during the Games.
Among the 49 competition venues, ten venues featured in six cities of Gyeonggi Province while another two featured in Chungju and Seoul. The rest of the venues featured in eight districts and a county inside the metropolitan city of Incheon.
While China are certainties to top the medal count for the ninth straight Games, South Korea have set an ambitious target of 90 golds, though the hosts would probably settle for less as long as they finish above fierce rivals Japan.
India, perennial underachievers in world sport, are determined to improve on the 14 golds they won four years ago in Guangzhou, while Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand will battle it out for bragging rights in South East Asia.
A large contingent of 166 members will represent Bangladesh in the 17th Asian Games after 16th Asian Games in Guangzhou in 2010. Bangladesh will compete in 13 out of 36 disciplines of the Games.
The disciplines are archery, cricket, hockey, kabaddi, fencing, golf, gymnastics, karate, shooting, taekwondo, beach volleyball and Wusu.
BOA decided to send these federations in the Asian Games after considering their results in the last Asian Game and Bangladesh Games.
Bolstered by a better-than-expected performance in the last edition of Asian Games, the Bangladesh athletes now aiming to snatch more golds, especially in cricket, hockey, shooting and kabaddi disciplines.
Bangladesh is expecting medal in the Asian Games mainly around cricket and the last edition’s gold medallists are expected to get familiar pitches in Incheon.
The seven newly-laid pitches at the Yeonhui Cricket Ground, which are only six months old, tend to offer low but even bounce and turn for the spinners.
With the cricket event starting from September 20, TV broadcasters have been setting up the cables in the middle; the painters are giving their final touches to the temporary structures.
Bangladesh will be playing in the Asian Games for the second time since the discipline was introduced in the Guangzhou Asian Games in 2010, where Bangladesh won gold in the men’s event and silver in the women’s.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh made a winning start in the football event beating Afghanistan by a solitary goal in the opening match.
