Asian Games Hangzhou 2022 in 2023: Did you know... five fun facts about the Asian Games
Hangzhou, People's Republic of China hosts the 19th edition of the Asian Games. But which country has staged the event the most times? Who have been named Games MVPs? And why was Japanese swimming champion Tamito Naoya expelled from the Incheon 2014 Games?
The 19th Asian Games will be held in Hangzhou, People's Republic of China, from 23 September to 8 October 2023.
Officially known as the 2022 Asian Games, having been postponed by a year due to COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, the event will host the best athletes in the continent with a number of Paris 2024 Olympic quota berths up for grabs.
The Games will feature 61 disciplines across 40 sports including the 28 'core' Olympic sports being contested at Paris 2024.
Since its first edition in 1951, the Asian Games have featured more than its fair share of spectacular sporting performances as well as controversies and lighter-hearted moments.
Scroll down to learn about some of them.
Thailand to the rescue
This is the third time China will be hosting the Asian Games, also known as Asiad, having previously done so at Beijing 1990 and Guangzhou 2010.
But the record for most Games staged by one nation goes to Thailand thanks to Bangkok hosting in 1966, 1970, 1978 and 1998.
The 1970 Games were due to be staged in Seoul, but Bangkok stepped in at late notice after the Republic of Korea received security threats from the neighbouring People’s Republic of Korea.
They filled in again in 1978 with Singapore unable to host the Games for financial reasons.
Bangkok and New Delhi (1951 and 1982) are the only cities to stage multiple Asian Games.
Ito Koji celebrates his sprint double at the Bangkok 1998 Asian Games
Tears and theft at Incheon 2014
Former world champion Laishram Sarita Devi thought she had booked her place in the lightweight final in Incheon after dominating her bout with home boxer Park Ji-na.
The judges had other ideas with all three giving the contest to Park despite the Indian clearly being on top in all four of the two-minute rounds.
Sarita could not hide her dismay when her opponent’s arm was raised by the referee with the decision accompanied by boos from the non-Korean contingent in the crowd.
Her husband, Thoiba Singh, clashed with security guards with a tearful Sarita later telling reporters she had avoided seeing her young son in preparation for the competition.
At the medal ceremony, the then 32-year-old refused to put on her bronze medal and then placed it around the neck of Park who had been beaten in the final by China’s future Olympic silver medallist Yin Junhua.
The Korean eventually persuaded her to take it back, but Sarita then left the medal on the podium step.
Sarita was subsequently banned for a year by the Amateur International Boxing Association for a lack of sportsmanship.
Laishram Sarita Devi (R) talks with Park Ji-na during the Incheon 2014 lightweight medal ceremony before giving her her bronze medal
But the strangest incident of the Games concerned Japanese swimmer Tomita Naoya.
The defending men’s 200m breaststroke champion was expelled for stealing a camera belonging to a local news agency journalist from the side of the pool.
Tomita was caught in the act on CCTV and admitted the offence before paying a fine of one million Korean won (900 US dollars) to allow him to go home to Japan although he was suspended by the Japanese Swimming Federation for 18 months.
He later retracted his confession, claiming someone with a grudge had placed it in his bag, and returned to Incheon months later to take his case to trial.
The presiding judge called Tomita's claim “difficult to believe” and found him guilty.
Japanese swimmer Tomita Naoya (C) speaks to the media during his trial for stealing a journalist's camera at Incheon 2014
Kabaddi, Sepak takraw and cricket add Asian flavour
The first Asian Games were held in India’s capital New Delhi 1951 with just six sports - aquatics (encompassing swimming, diving and water polo), athletics, basketball, cycling (road and track), football and weightlifting.
The Philippines hosted the second Asian Games in 1954 and they have been held every four years since until the COVID-19 pandemic forced the 2022 edition to be postponed by a year.
There are 40 sports at this year’s Asian Games, seven more than at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 but six short of the record 46 at Jakarta-Palembang 2018.
Having been almost entirely aligned with the Olympic programme until 1990 - with the notable exceptions of ten-pin bowling which has made sporadic appearances and golf, everpresent since 1982 - the Asian Games added three new sports - kabaddi, Sepak takraw and wushu - at Beijing 1990.
Kabaddi is a sport with mass appeal in India where a player from one team has to cross to the opposite half of a court and tag as many opponents as possible on their 'raid' before returning.
Sepak takraw is best described as a cross between volleyball and football on a badminton court with three players per side, while wushu is the sports form of kung fu.
Esports makes its full Asian Games debut in Hangzhou having been a demonstration sport at Jakarta-Palembang 2018, while Dragon Boat and roller sports make third Games appearances.
After being contested previously in 2010 and 2014, cricket returns to the Asian Games with India set to participate for the first time in both men’s and women’s competitions.
With the Cricket World Cup starting on 5 October, India will be fielding a largely second-string squad missing the likes of Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant and Jasprit Bumrah.
Athletes vie for coveted MVP award
Medals are reward enough for most athletes but Bangkok 1998 saw the advent of the Asian Games Most Valuable Player (MVP) award.
Japanese athletes have taken the prize four times in six Games with swimmer Ikee Rikako the most recent thanks to her six golds and two silvers at Jakarta-Palembang 2018.
After surviving leukaemia, Ikee returns to defend her four individual sprint titles in freestyle and butterfly and will almost certainly play key roles in the relay squads.
Four swimmers have won the award previously with Japanese track sprinter Ito Koji and Chinese badminton legend Lin Dan the only non-swimmers to take it.
Lin's MVP award came between his two Olympic golds at Beijing 2008 and London 2012, while Kitajima Kosuke, Park Tae-hwan and Hagino Kosuke went on to become Olympic champions.
Indonesian public cries 'fowl' over 2018 Asian Games mascot
In December 2015, bird of paradise Derawan was unveiled as the official mascot for Jakarta-Palembang 2018 having been selected from hundreds of competition entries.
But Derawan, who wore an Indonesian martial arts uniform, was immediately slammed by critics for "looking more like a chicken".
A week later, the country’s Ministry of Youth and Sport announced that they would be seeking a replacement.
In the end, they selected three to represent Indonesia’s diversity - bird of paradise Bhin Bhin, one-horned rhino Ika and Bawean deer Atung.
Eventual official 2018 Asian Games mascots at the Opening Ceremony (L-R): Atung, Bhin Bhin and Ika