KATHMANDU: The 20th Asian Games officially begin in Japan today, with the tournament being held in Aichi Prefecture and Nagoya City until October 4.
The opening ceremony is scheduled to take place at 6:00 PM local time at the Nagoya City Mizuho Park Athletic Stadium. However, several sporting events have already begun ahead of the official opening ceremony.
A total of 135 Nepali athletes are competing in 21 sports disciplines at this edition of the Asian Games. According to National Sports Council (NSC) Member-Secretary Ramcharitra Mehta, the Nepali contingent comprises 78 male and 57 female athletes. The overall delegation consists of 211 members, including coaches, managers, technical staff and medical personnel.
At the 2023 Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, Nepal had fielded 253 athletes.
According to Mehta, Nepal’s largest contingent at the Aichi-Nagoya Games will compete in kabaddi, with 24 athletes. Cricket has 15 athletes, followed by volleyball with 12, wushu with 10, karate with eight and boxing with seven.
Nepal will have six athletes each in athletics, judo, table tennis and wrestling, while five athletes each will compete in swimming and tennis. Four athletes each will represent Nepal in badminton, golf and soft tennis; three in taekwondo; and two each in archery, cycling, rafting and canoeing, skating and skateboarding, and squash, Mehta said.
Boxer Chandra Bahadur Thapa Magar and kabaddi player Manamati Bista will carry Nepal’s national flag at the opening ceremony.
Thapa Magar won a bronze medal at the World Boxing Championship held in Dubai last year, while Bista captained Nepal’s women’s kabaddi team to a bronze medal at the 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games.
The Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games feature 43 sports, with athletes from 45 countries and regions, along with a refugee team, taking part in the competition.
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