HANGZHOU: The Malaysian contingent was yesterday greeted by a special team welcome ceremony at the Athletes Village here, ahead of the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games which is scheduled to open its curtain officially today.
In the ceremony, the Malaysian contingent was headed by Chef de Mission Datuk Chong Kim Fatt together with his two deputies — Datuk Mohamad Iruan Zulkefli and Associate Prof. Dr. Farrah Hani Imran alongside the e-sports team and members of the secretariat from the Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM).
The drizzling rain did not prevent all eyes from staying focused on the event which featured Chinese cultural performances such as lion dance, drum, wushu and Hangzhou traditional dance. It was followed by a welcoming speech by the Mayor of Hangzhou Asian Games Village Lu Chunqiang. The national anthem Negaraku was played and the Jalur Gemilang was raised at the ceremony. Also joining the Malaysian contingent at the ceremony were Macau, Saudi Arabia, Timor Leste, Turkmenistan and Vietnam.
“I would like to thank the organisers for the reception. The cloudy and rainy weather today has not dampened our spirit to be ready to compete. “The ceremony really depicts the essence of the official Games slogan Heart to Heart, @Future,” said Kim Fatt when met by reporters after the event. Meanwhile, the national coach of esports League of Legends (LOL) squad, Eric Sze Pin Sia said: “I’m very happy to see so many countries united together here and I’m actually very excited on how they (host) managed everything for the Asian Games,”.
The 19th Asian Games is set to host about 12,000 athletes from 45 countries competing in 481 events from 40 sports. Malaysia represented by 289 athletes who will compete in 22 sports are aiming to bring home a total of 27 medals. – BERNAMA
