The largest winter sports festival in Asia, the Winter Asian Games, returned after 8 years and grandly opened on the 7th.
The opening ceremony of the 9th Harbin Winter Asian Games was held on the 7th at 9 p.m. (Korean time) at the Harbin International Convention and Exhibition Sports Center in China. The event, themed 'Dream of Winter, Love among Asia,' will run until the 14th.
The Winter Asian Games were originally scheduled to take place in 2021 but have not been held for an extended period due to difficulties in selecting a host city and the impact of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). After various ups and downs, Harbin was chosen as the host city in July 2023, marking the first event in 8 years since the 2017 Sapporo Games.
This competition features 64 gold medals across 11 events in 6 disciplines: skating, skiing, curling, ice hockey, biathlon, and alpine skiing. Over 1,200 athletes from 34 countries are participating, the largest number in the history of the Winter Asian Games. South Korea has sent a total of 222 members (148 athletes, 52 officials, and 22 headquarters staff).
China continues to host major international sports events following the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics and the 2022 Hangzhou Summer Asian Games held last year. Director General Xia Shaoran, who oversaw the closing ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics and the opening and closing ceremonies of the Hangzhou Asian Games, is also in charge of this opening ceremony.
Led by Director General Choi Hong-hoon (president of the Korea Ski and Snowboard Association), the South Korean delegation entered 13th among the 34 participating countries, with men's ice hockey representative Lee Chong-min (Bloomington Bisons) and captain of the women's curling team Kim Eun-ji (Gyeonggi Provincial Office) serving as flag bearers. The South Korean delegation aims for an overall second place following the Sapporo Games.
The opening ceremony was attended by numerous high-ranking officials from various countries, including Xi Jinping, the President of China; Thomas Bach, Chairperson of the International Olympic Committee (IOC); Woo Won-sik, Speaker of the National Assembly; Yoo In-chon, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism; and Yoon Seung-min, the newly elected president of the Korea Sports Council, who was invited by the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA).