100-day countdown for Hangzhou Asian Games: athletes in full preparation

Shanghai (China), June 15 (IANS) With 100 days to go before the Hangzhou Asian Games, Ni Kadek Heni Prikasih, a 22-year-old young girl is preparing for the Games through both training and competition as she has been away from home for a long time.

The Indonesian athlete has claimed the title of women's 46 kilograms in taekwondo at the Bulgaria Open 2023 and will represent her country to compete at the Asian Games for the first time.

"I will compete in the 49kg category at the Asian Games, and I hope to bring home a gold medal," she said.

Prikasih is among the tens of thousands of Asian athletes who are training hard and striving for the best result in the coming competitions.

At the Hangzhou Asian Games, the South Korean team will compete in 42 sports and 61 disciplines and they are expected to finalize their squad by the end of July, reports Xinhua.

In April, the South Korean table tennis team announced a 10-member list. Shin Yu-bin, who just won the silver medal in the women's doubles final of the Table Tennis World Championships in Durban, South Africa, will feel the weight of expectations from her fans.

She said that the competition against Chinese athletes at the World Championships made her realise her own shortcomings and learned a lot, and she believes that it is more important to improve her strength than the rankings in the upcoming Asian Games.

Judo is Japan's traditional strong sport as the country pocketed nine of the 15 gold medals at the Tokyo Olympics.

On May 31, the All Japan Judo Federation announced a 17-athlete lineup to compete at the Hangzhou Asian Games with Tokyo Olympic men's 100kg champion Aaron Wolf, and Tsunoda Natsumi, who won her third consecutive women's 48kg title at the World Championships in May, on the list.

Macao, China, plans to send about 190 athletes to compete in 21 sports of the Asian Games, and some teams have gone to the Chinese mainland or overseas to prepare for the competitions, hoping to achieve good results, said Pun Weng Kun, Vice President of the Sports and Olympic Committee of Macao, China and President of Macao Sports Bureau.

"Macao notched one gold, two silver and two bronze medals at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta. Traditionally Macao has advantages in martial arts, karate and other sports. Our athletes are training hard and I believe that they can perform well. For the Hangzhou Asian Games, we are full of confidence," said Pun.

"In the past 20 years, the Macao martial arts team has won medals at every Asian Games, especially gold medals in 2010 and 2018, and we have been always fighting for gold medals," said Iao Chon In, coach of the team.

At the Tokyo Olympics, China's Hong Kong claimed its best-ever Olympic result by winning one gold, two silver and three bronze medals.

At the Hangzhou Asian Games, the Hong Kong team has the ambition for gold in swimming and fencing. Chen Jianhong, head coach of the Hong Kong swimming team, said that before the Asian Games, the team will compete at the World Championships, the 31st FISU World University Games, and the Youth Championships.

"Each coach has a different division of work, which requires them to develop a competition plan according to the different situations of the athletes in their respective groups. Of course, the Asian Games are the most important. I hope that the coaches of all groups can arrange the training camp properly, so as to reserve the best state of the athletes for the Asian Games," said Chen.