Jinhua Sports Center. [Photo/Jinhua Daily]
With one year to go until the start of the postponed Asian Games in Hangzhou, Chinese organizers have expressed growing confidence in pulling off an "outstanding" showpiece event.
The 19th Asian Games had been expected to take place between September 10 and 25 this year, but has been rescheduled to start on September 23 in 2023 due to restrictions in place because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
More than 10,000 athletes and officials from across the region are expected to be involved in the quadrennial event, with a total of 482 medal events in 40 sports and 61 disciplines on offer.
"Despite the one-year postponement of the Hangzhou Asian Games, we are moving forward with the preparations in an orderly manner and ready for Games-time operations," said Chen Weiqiang, deputy secretary-general of the Hangzhou Asian Games Organizing Committee (HAGOC) and vice mayor of Hangzhou.
"We are committed to staging a sport extravaganza that is outstanding in terms of organization, cultural enrichment and communication."
All 56 competition venues for the Asian Games and Asian Para Games have been declared fit for purpose by the HAGOC, with the organizers making full use of existing buildings through renovation with an eye to reduce costs and the event's carbon footprint.
"We need to both organize the competition well and be frugal in running it," said Chen.
He also confirmed that all venues built for the postponed Games are now open to public as part of initiatives to promote national fitness.
"Around 85 percent of our venues are run by third-party teams," Chen added. "We are not afraid of these venues being used up or damaged."
According to the organizers, numerous sports parks have sprung up to ensure people can access sports facilities within a 10 minute walk and an Asian Games-themed park can be found in every district and county of Hangzhou.
Meanwhile, Hangzhou strives to become the first "Asian Games in the Cloud," using cloud intelligent technology in core systems featuring event management, match results, and tournament support.
HAGOC also announced that press operations and broadcast services for the Games were "in full swing" and that organizations had started to book private office space in the main media center.
Construction work of the International broadcast center will begin on March 1, 2023 with an aim to complete it in August, a month before the Games get underway.
