The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan’s general directorate of physical education and sport said Sunday 84 athletes from Afghanistan are taking part in this year’s Asian Games in Hangzhou, China.

The dazzling opening ceremony was held on Saturday. Athletes from 45 Asian countries are taking part.

According to the directorate 84 athletes plus representatives of the Afghanistan National Olympic Committee were also at the ceremony.

The general directorate of physical education and sport said Afghan athletes will be competing in 15 different sports.

In a new development, Esports will make its debut as an official medal event at this year’s Asian Games, with seven gold medals to be awarded across seven game titles: Arena of Valor (Asian Games Version), DOTA 2, Dream of Three Kingdoms 2, League of Legends, Peace Elite (Asian Games Version), Street Fighter V: Champion Edition, and EA Sports FC Online.

Esports kicks off its first competitions on Sunday, September 24 with EA Sports FC Online and Arena of Valor (Asian Games Version) to be the inaugural titles of this historic event.

A total of 476 athletes from 30 National Olympic Committees will compete over nine days, involving 219 matches, with 21 medals to be awarded.

The official draws were conducted for all seven game titles, with Asian Electronic Sports Federation Vice President Lokesh Suji, Sebastian Lau, and the Esports Technical Delegate Steve Kim taking turns drawing countries and regions from the pool.

Esports was a demonstration sport at the 18th Asian Games in Indonesia in 2018 and will be a full medal sport for the first time in Hangzhou, where games will be played at the China Hangzhou Esports Centre.

The first medal will be presented on Tuesday, September 26 and then there will be one gold medal on offer for the following six days through to Monday, October 2.

Esports has already been confirmed in the programme for the 20th Asian Games in Aichi/Nagoya in 2026.