CHINA: The 19th Asian Games kicked off in Hangzhou, China on September 23 with a mesmerizing hi-tech opening ceremony that welcomed athletes from 45 countries to compete in the second largest sporting event in the world, behind the Olympics.

In attendance are 114 Cambodian athletes with the opportunity to compete internationally and mingle with some of the world’s top athletes. Under the theme "Heart to Heart, @Future", the Asia's biggest multi-sport event will gather over 12,000 athletes from 45 countries and regions from Hong Kong to Iran to Indonesia. A total of 481 events will be contested across 40 sports.

Competitions in nine sports - archery, artistic swimming, boxing, breaking, hockey, modern pentathlon, sailing, tennis and water polo - will also serve as Olympic qualifiers, with Paris 2024 quotas on the line.

The 114 Cambodian athletes will compete in 17 sports, including volleyball, basketball, sailing, judo, taekwondo, fencing, swimming, athletics, badminton, triathlon, wrestling, karate, cricket, Chinese chess, soft tennis, dragon boat and ju-jitsu.

Cambodia is making its 13th appearance at the Games, which started in 1951. In the last edition of the Asian Games in Indonesia in 2018, Cambodia bagged two gold and one bronze medals. The two gold were brought home by Jessa Khan in ju-jitsu and Saly Ou Moeut in jet-ski racing, neither of whom is attending this year’s games.

The games run from September 23 to October 8 and currently in the lead for medal tally are China, South Korea, and Japan.

^{PHOTO: AKP}