The 2022 Asian Games (), officially known as the 19th Asian Games (), also known as Hangzhou 2022, ( zh, c=杭州2022, p=Hángzhōu Èr líng èr èr), will be a multi-sport event celebrated in

Hangzhou Hangzhou ( or , ; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), also romanized as Hangchow, is the capital and most populous city of Zhejiang, China. It is located in the northwestern part of the province, sitting at the head of Hangzhou Bay, whi ...

, Zhejiang, China. Hangzhou will be the third Chinese city to host the

Asian Games The Asian Games, also known as Asiad, is a continental multi-sport event held every four years among athletes from all over Asia. The Games were regulated by the Asian Games Federation (AGF) from the first Games in New Delhi, India, until t ...

, after

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...

and

Guangzhou Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong Kon ...

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

. The Games were originally scheduled to take place from 10 to 25 September 2022, but the event was postponed due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

on 6 May due to concerns on travelling to mainland China, amid the potential threat of COVID-19 variants. On 19 July 2022, the new dates were announced to be from 23 September to 8 October 2023.

Bidding process

The Chinese Olympic Committee confirmed that Hangzhou submitted a bid, and is the only city to declare the candidacy in August 2015. Hangzhou was officially awarded as the host city on September 16, 2015, in

Ashgabat Ashgabat or Asgabat ( tk, Aşgabat, ; fa, عشق‌آباد, translit='Ešqābād, formerly named Poltoratsk ( rus, Полтора́цк, p=pəltɐˈratsk) between 1919 and 1927), is the capital and the largest city of Turkmenistan. It lies ...

, Turkmenistan, during the 34th

OCA OCA or Oca may refer to: Places and jurisdictions * The ancient town and bishopric Oca in Asia Minor (present Asia Turkey), now a Latin Catholic titular see * The former Spanish Oca, modern Villafranca Montes de Oca, also see of a medieval bis ...

General Assembly.

Venues

Main_Stadium,_Hangzhou_Olympic_Sports_Center,_2019-09-10_01

44 venues will be used for the Games, including 30 existing facilities and 14 newly constructed venues. Most venues will be within Hangzhou and its districts, while other events will be held in Deqing,

Jinhua , alternately romanized as Kinhwa, is a prefecture-level city in central Zhejiang province in eastern China. It borders the provincial capital of Hangzhou to the northwest, Quzhou to the southwest, Lishui to the south, Taizhou to the east, ...

Ningbo Ningbo (; Ningbonese: ''gnin² poq⁷'' , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), formerly romanized as Ningpo, is a major sub-provincial city in northeast Zhejiang province, People's Republic of China. It comprises 6 urban districts, 2 sate ...

, Shaoxing and

Wenzhou Wenzhou (pronounced ; Wenzhounese: Yuziou �y33–11 tɕiɤu33–32 ), historically known as Wenchow is a prefecture-level city in southeastern Zhejiang province in the People's Republic of China. Wenzhou is located at the extreme south east o ...

. A new high-speed rail line is being constructed between Hangzhou and

Huzhou Huzhou (, ; Huzhounese: ''ghou² cieu¹'') is a prefecture-level city in northern Zhejiang province (Hangzhou–Jiaxing–Huzhou Plain, China). Lying south of the Lake Tai, it borders Jiaxing to the east, Hangzhou to the south, and the provinc ...

for the Games.

The Games

Sports

On 8 April 2019, the Olympic Council of Asia initially announced that the Games would feature 37 sports, including the 28 mandatory Olympic sports to be contested at the

2024 Summer Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (french: Jeux olympiques d'été de 2024), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad (french: Jeux de la XXXIIIe Olympiade, links=no) and also known as Paris 2024, is an upcoming international multi-sport event that is s ...

in Paris, as well as events in other non-Olympic sports. This led to the addition of events such as the open-water swimming and the groups competition in rhythmic gymnastics to the Olympic program. On 12 September 2019, baseball, softball, karate, and sport climbing (which were optional events at the then-upcoming

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

) were added to the programme, expanding it to 61 disciplines in 40 sports. On 18 December 2020, it was announced that

esports Esports, short for electronic sports, is a form of competition using video games. Esports often takes the form of organized, multiplayer video game competitions, particularly between professional players, individually or as teams. Although orga ...

(which was held as a demonstration event in 2018) and breakdancing (which will debut at the

) would be added, expanding the programme to 42 sports. The e-sports programme at the 2022 Asian Games will include eight medal events and two demonstration events, with competitions being held in '' Arena of Valor'', ''

Dota 2 ''Dota 2'' is a 2013 multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) video game by Valve. The game is a sequel to ''Defense of the Ancients'' (''DotA''), a community-created mod for Blizzard Entertainment's '' Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos.'' ''Dota 2' ...

'', ''Dream of the Three Kingdoms 2,'' ''

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

'', ''

Hearthstone ''Hearthstone'' is a free-to-play online digital collectible card game developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment. Originally subtitled ''Heroes of Warcraft'', ''Hearthstone'' builds upon the existing lore of the ''Warcraft'' series by u ...

, League of Legends, PUBG Mobile,'' and '' Street Fighter V.''

Calendar

Participation

All the 45 National Olympic Committees who are members of the Olympic Council of Asia are expected to send delegations. In March 2019, the OCA announced plans to invite athletes from countries from

Oceania Oceania (, , ) is a region, geographical region that includes Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Spanning the Eastern Hemisphere, Eastern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres, Oceania is estimated to have a land area of ...

to compete in selected events; this would mark their first participation in the Summer Asian Games, after having participated for the first time overall at the

2017 Asian Winter Games The 2017 Asian Winter Games ( ja, 2017アジア冬季競技大会, 2017 Ajia tōkikyōgitaikai) was the 8th edition of the Asian Winter Games. They were hosted in Sapporo and Obihiro in Hokkaido, Japan. These Games were originally scheduled for 2 ...

, albeit as "guests" ineligible to receive medals. In November 2021, it was announced that athletes from Oceania would be invited to compete in athletics, wushu, roller skating, triathlon, and weightlifting; athletes will receive "honorary medals" if they place in an event, and their nation will not be part of the official medal tallies. However, due to the recent outbreak of the

, Australia and New Zealand decided not to send athletes to this Games.

Marketing

Emblem

The emblem of the Games, "Surging Tides", was unveiled during a ceremony at the headquarters of the Hangzhou Culture Radio Television Group on 6 August 2018; it is designed to resemble a hand fan, a running track, the

Qiantang River The Qiantang River, formerly known as the Hangchow River and alternatively romanised as the Tsientang River, is a river in East China. An important commercial artery, it runs for through Zhejiang, passing through the provincial capital Hangz ...

, and radio waves (symbolising wireless connectivity). The organising committee stated that the emblem was meant to reflect "the great cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics gathering momentum in the new era", and "the unity, solidarity and development of the OCA."

Mascot

The three mascots of the Games, Congcong, Lianlian and Chenchen, known collectively as the "Memories of Jiangnan", were unveiled on 3 April 2020. They are depicted as robotic superheroes originating from the Archaeological Ruins of Liangzhu City, the

West Lake West Lake (; ) is a freshwater lake in Hangzhou, China. It is divided into five sections by three causeways. There are numerous temples, pagodas, gardens, and natural/artificial islands within the lake. Gushan (孤山) is the largest natural is ...

and the Grand Canal respectively.

Slogan

The official slogan of the 2022 Asian Games, "Heart to Heart, @Future" was announced on 15 December 2019 to mark 1,000 days before the opening ceremonies. The slogan is intended to symbolise the connectivity that the Asian Games create between the countries of Asia.