Asian Games 2023 were set off on 23 September, Saturday after an opening ceremony took place at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Center Stadium, China which is also known as the Big Lotus.
The ceremony witnessed the contingents of various Asian countries, including India walking in with their national flags in a march past which led them out of the stadium.
The Indian contingent, led by Hockey captain Harmanpreet Singh and the Olympic bronze medalist boxer Lovlina Borgohain, entered eighth in the Hangzhou stadium to display the strength of the nation and its squad.
The Indian contingent was dressed in traditional attires in brown hue colour with a tint of golden and green borders. While the women were dressed in sarees paired with floral blouses, the men donned kurtas with floral jackets. While the flag-bearers held the national flag, the other athletes too walked in with the miniatures of tricolour in their hands.
A total of 625 athletes will be representing India across different sports at the 15-day-long intercontinental tournament which will conclude on 8th October.
However, only 200 of them took part in the ceremony as most of the athletes will be in action tomorrow in their respective sports.
The theme of the opening ceremony was water and tide, which represents life in the Chinese city and how the country has achieved modernization while respecting the cultural ethos as well as the environment.
The games were declared open by the Chinese president Xi Jinping in the presence of the acting president of the Olympic Council of Asia, Randhir Singh and the President of the International Olympic Committee, Thomas Bach, among others.