>> Festive send-off held for Vietnamese participants in 17th Asian Games
>> Vietnam beat Iran 4-1 in Asiad opener
All preparations have been completed. The whole region has been waiting for four years since the 2010 Guangzhou Asiad to continue enjoying high-end performances from almost 10,000 athletes representing 45 countries and territories across Asia at the 17th Games.
Incheon is the third RoK city after Seoul (1986) and Busan (2002) to take the honour of hosting the Olympic Council of Asia’s (OCA) showpiece event.
The 15-day competition will gather elite Asian talent in 28 Olympic and eight non-Olympic sports until October 4, with a total of 439 gold medals up for grabs, which could be valuable rehearsals for many of the athletes prior to the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
The eight non-Olympic sports are baseball, ten-pin bowling, cricket, kabaddi, karate, sepak takraw, squash and wushu. This resulted in six other sports: roller sport, board games (chess, go, xiangqi), cue sports, softball, dancesport and dragon boat, held in previous Games, being removed from the list.
Vietnam will send a 298-member delegation to the 17th Asiad, with 199 athletes on 22 teams competing in 21 sports and targeting to win from 2-4 gold medals. The country’s golden hopes are pinned on Nguyen Thi Anh Vien (swimming), Phan Thi Ha Thanh (gymnastics), Thach Kim Tuan (weightlifting) and Hoang Xuan Vinh (shooting).
The mascots of the Games are designed to resemble three spotted seal siblings, named ‘Barame’, ‘Chumuro’ and ‘Vichuon’ meaning wind, dance and light respectively in Korean, demonstrating the desire for peace and co-operation.
The 61,000-seat newly built Incheon Asiad Main Stadium will be the host venue for the opening ceremony, closing ceremony and competitions of some sports. Many other modern facilities have also been built, such as Dream Park Stadium for golf, shooting and demonstration horse-riding; Ganghwa Dolmens Gymnasium for taekwondo and wushu; and Munhak Park Tae-hwan Aquatics Centre for swimming, synchronised swimming and diving. An athletes' village, accommodating 2,220 rooms in its 22 buildings, has been constructed to serve up to 15,000 people, offering health, bodybuilding and restaurant services and a special centre capable of serving 7,000 reporters and journalists from across Asia.
The total funding for the 17th Asiad organisation is estimated at US$1.62 billion, 78.9% of which is managed by the Incheon authority and the remaining sources from the national budget. Despite its huge organisation and preparation costs, the municipal leaders says that the 17th Asiad will provide a perfect opportunity to promote the image of Incheon to international friends and to attract investment and boost tourism. The city is expected to welcome about 200,000 visitors during the 15 days of the Asian Games.
The 17th Asian Games extravaganza will explode into action with a colourful and vibrant opening ceremony at Incheon Main Stadium on Friday night. The Asiad torch will be lit up at the stadium after its 5,700km journey through 70 RoK localities, marking an official start to the 15-day Games.
