Since the 1978 Asian Games in Bangkok, the gold medal list of the Asian Games has been dominated by China, Japan and South Korea. The Chinese team is expected to still stand out at the Hangzhou Asian Games, but the competition between Japan and South Korea will be more intense. Japan continued the strong cycle of the Tokyo Olympics, and South Korea sent the largest Asian Games delegation in history to regain the top spot.
China's traditional dominant projects are still strong, and e-sports has become a new gold point
The Chinese delegation's disconnected lead in the Asian Games gold medal table began at the 1990 Beijing Asian Games, and most of the time China won gold medals that were multiples of the second place, because of China's sports advantages. This year's competition, the Chinese delegation continued to maintain competitiveness in a number of traditional advantageous sports, and the new project e-sports has also become a new gold point for us.
In the past eight Asian Games, the Chinese Legion has won no less than 30 gold medals in the two events of gold sports swimming and athletics (excluding diving, synchronized swimming and other events), and this competition is also one of the main directions of winning gold.
Swimming is one of the main directions of the Chinese Legion winning gold in previous Asian Games
At the last Asian Games in Jakarta, the Chinese and Japanese "water army" chess opponents won 19 swimming gold medals. This year, the Chinese team is expected to lead in the women's event, Zhang Yufei's women's 50m and 100m butterfly, the women's team has a huge advantage in the 400m, 800m and 1500m events, and Ye Shiwen can also suppress the Japanese team in the 200m breaststroke. Pan Zhanle's men's 100m and 200m freestyle, Xu Jiayu's 100m backstroke, Qin Haiyang's 100m breaststroke, Wang Shun's 200m medley all occupied the world's first place in the first half of the year, while the growth of men's sprint strength is bound to improve the gold rush strength of the relay event. At the Fukuoka Swimming World Championships in July, the Chinese swimming team handed over 5 golds, 3 silvers and 8 bronzes, although the Japanese team could only end with 2 bronzes, but the fierce battle between China and Japan is believed to still be the theme of the "Bichi War" of the Hangzhou Asian Games, and the Chinese team is obviously more winning.
The Chinese track and field team did not perform well at the Budapest Athletics World Championships, which ended in August, finishing sixth only at the Asian level with two bronze medals. Japan, India and Bahrain in Asia all have gold medals. Su Bingtian's absence at the Asian Games means that the Chinese team will be less competitive in the men's 100m and men's 4x100m relay. However, the Chinese team has a certain advantage in the men's jumping event and the women's race walk, throwing and women's jumping events, and the number of gold medals for the Chinese team in athletics is expected to be around 10.
The Chinese Legion's Olympic gold medal event is also the gold medal library of the Asian Games, and the "dream team" such as diving, table tennis, and weightlifting aims to win gold medals, and flower swimming, badminton, gymnastics, rowing, canoeing, sailing, windsurfing, shooting, etc. are also big gold winners. Go, which returned to the Asian Games stage after 13 years, also has the strength to attack the gold medal.
Since 1978, China's three major balls have scored gold medals in every Asian Games, and at their peak, they won four gold medals. The strength of the women's team at this Asian Games is significantly stronger. The Chinese women's basketball team won the runner-up of the World Cup in 2022, and the Chinese women's volleyball team won the runner-up of the World Women's Volleyball League this year, which is dominant in Asia. The strength of the Chinese women's football team has declined in recent years, and this year it missed the round of 16 of the World Cup, but the strongest opponent Japan only sent a youth army to play in this Asian Games, and the Chinese women's football team still has hope of rushing for gold.
In contrast, the men's three balls are relatively bleak. Li Kaier, Zhou Peng and Zhou Qi, the three main players did not participate in the Asian Games, how to regain their fighting spirit in the harsh public opinion environment after the World Cup loss is a problem that the Chinese men's basketball team needs to face. The Chinese men's football team and the Chinese men's volleyball team have always been weak, and there is little hope of winning gold. On the contrary, the men's and women's teams of three-man basketball have hope of defending their titles.
Li Kyle will not represent the Chinese men's basketball team in the Asian Games
In addition, with the rise of men's tennis strength, China's men's tennis is expected to perform prominently at this Asian Games, and Wu Yixiang will attack the gold medal.
E-sports became an official event for the first time in the Hangzhou Asian Games, with a total of 7 sub-events, namely League of Legends, Glory of Kings (Asian Games version), Peace Elite (Asian Games version), Dota (Dota 2), Dream Three Kingdoms 2, Street Fighter 5 and FIFA Online 4, the Chinese team participated in all sports except Street Fighter 5, China and South Korea are the two strongest teams, and will stage a peak showdown. It is worth mentioning that Guangdong's Liu Jiacheng will participate in the FIFA Online4 project.
South Korea hopes to win back a city, and Japan continues Tokyo's strength
South Korea and Japan are expected to fight fiercely for second place in the gold medal table at the Hangzhou Asian Games. In the past six Asian Games, the South Korean delegation has been in second place for five consecutive editions (from Bangkok 1998 to Busan 2002, Doha 2006, Guangzhou 2010 and Incheon 2014), but at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta, they were overtaken by the Japanese delegation and slipped to third place, when Japan won 75 gold medals and South Korea lost 26 and only 49 golds, and it was the first time since the 1982 New Delhi Games that South Korea won fewer than 50 gold medals in a single Asian Games. After five years of dormancy, South Korea sent 1,180 people, the largest Asian Games delegation in history, with the aim of regaining Japan's top spot.
South Korea's strengths include taekwondo, archery, swimming, fencing, judo, Go, e-sports, modern pentathlon, soft tennis, badminton and table tennis. At the just-concluded Badminton World Championships, the South Korean team won three gold medals in women's singles, men's doubles and mixed doubles, showing its strong strength. Go's Shin Jin-jin, Park Ting-hwan, Park Yong-hun, etc. are all world-class chess players. They are undoubtedly the strongest team in the world in archery.
But Japan will not easily cede its second-place spot. Japan played host at Tokyo 2020, soaring to 27 gold medals from 12 at the Rio Olympics. The high investment in the Tokyo Olympic cycle has a long-tail effect, and the benefits will continue into the current Asian Games and even the Paris Olympic cycle.
In addition to swimming to compete with the Chinese team, the number of gold medals for the Japanese team in athletics is also increasing rapidly. At the Budapest Athletics World Championships, Kitaguchi won the first gold medal in the women's javelin throw for Japan, and they also won the bronze medal in the men's 35km race walk, finishing in the top eight in the men's 100m, men's 4×100m relay and men's 110m hurdles. Moving to the Asian Games, China and Japan will face off head-to-head on the track and field.
Japanese women's javelin thrower Hazel Kitaguchi
Japan won nine judo gold medals at the Tokyo Olympics, and their advantages in this event are even more obvious at the Asian Games. Women's wrestling and gymnastics, which won four and three gold medals at the Olympics, are also their gold medal pool. They also have gold advantages in table tennis, badminton and other events. In the collective event, Japan is aiming for a gold medal in baseball and softball, but in soccer, men's and women's teams, as well as men's basketball teams, they only send youth teams to participate. At a time when the Olympic qualifiers and Asian Games schedules clashed, they clearly valued the former.
The performance of those delegations was also noteworthy
The Hangzhou Asian Games will be seen by North Korea as an opportunity to make a comeback on the world sports stage. Previously, North Korea missed the Tokyo Olympics due to the epidemic. This participation in the Hangzhou Asian Games is the first time in five years that North Korea has returned to the stage of international comprehensive sports events.
The North Korean delegation won 12 golds, 12 silvers and 13 bronzes at the last Asian Games, ranking 9th in the medal table. They sent 400 people to compete in 22 disciplines and are expected to compete for medals in wrestling, weightlifting, taekwondo, shooting and gymnastics.
The Hong Kong delegation will also send its largest team since the Asian Games, with about 930 people, of which 681 athletes will compete in 40 sports. Swimmer He Shibei is a star athlete who has strong prowess in the women's 100m and 200m freestyle events. Hong Kong athletes won 8 golds, 18 silvers and 20 bronzes at the last Asian Games, and looking forward to this competition, the head of the delegation, Fok Qigang, hopes that the achievements of Hong Kong athletes can surpass the previous edition.
The Indonesian delegation has outstanding performance in badminton, martial arts, shooting and other events, the Indian delegation is expected to win in athletics, boxing, wrestling, badminton and other events, the Iranian delegation has the strength to win medals in weightlifting, wrestling, shooting and other events, and the Kazakhstan delegation has a battle in weightlifting, boxing, judo and other events.
Text | Reporter Su Xing
Source | Yangcheng Evening News Yangcheng Pie
Image | Visual China
Responsible Editor | Lv Hang