The Olympic Council of Asia’s Acting President, Raja Randhir Singh, has applauded Hangzhou Asian Games’ smooth operation and likened the 19th Asian Games to Olympic standards.

Halfway through its 20-day run, the event has earned plaudits from the OCA for its record-breaking performances at sold-out venues, zealous public support and other successes, with credit given to organizers, venue operation staff and volunteers.

“Having seen many Olympic and Asian Games, from my experiences, this edition … has raised the bar. It is as good as—if not even better than—the Olympic Games,” Singh said, after visiting the Asian Games Museum on its opening day on Thursday.

The world-class facilities, especially the Games Village, and the diverse programs have laid a solid foundation for this sports gala to, in some ways, match next year’s Paris Olympics, Singh said.

“The athletes love the Village,” said Singh, who represented India in shooting at six consecutive Olympics from 1964 to 1984 and at four Asiads from 1978 to 1994.

“I’ve stayed in villages many times when I was competing. And there’s never been a village like this beautiful project. You can’t ask for more. All the National Olympic Committees and all athletes are so happy and satisfied.

“I think we are definitely not in any way behind what Paris will be doing for the Olympics. Our infrastructure in Hangzhou is as good, or maybe even better.”

Singh added that the host’s warm reception, as an embodiment of Asian culture’s friendliness, will ensure Hangzhou Asian Games remain a lifelong memory for all international participants.

“That sends a message to all the people who come to the Games, watch the Games and cover the Games,” he said. “They will experience the hospitality and welcome that you only have in Asia.”

The Hangzhou Asian Games’ program features a record number of 481 medal events, including non-Olympic sports that are popular in certain regions. The 12,417 athletes exceed the number at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and are expected to likewise surpass the figure at Paris 2024.

But while representing all the continent’s 45 NOCs as a statement of unity, the massive scale of the 19th Asian Games has raised concerns over the organizational pressure and financial burden for future hosts.

Singh reiterated that the tradition of including regional sports will continue to be honored, but the Games’ scale should be kept in check.

“We try to keep the main size of the Asian Games controllable. It should not be too much,” said the 76-year-old administrator.

Although athletes and coaches of such non-Olympic sports as cricket enjoy sensational followings in their respective regional markets, they hailed the Asiad as a much-needed platform to gain global exposure.

“It is a very good sign for the Asian Games to bring cricket in,” said Mohtashim Rasheed, coach of Pakistan’s women’s cricket team.

Oshadi Ranasinghe, a veteran of Sri Lanka’s women’s cricket team, which won silver in Hangzhou, said: “We can popularize the sport better and promote it to other Asian countries (and regions). It’s a great thing.”

According to official stats, multiple world records have been broken with more records expected to fall in the coming days.

“The standard is getting higher. Asian sports are coming up very fast,” Singh said. “Initially, it was Japan and (the Republic of) Korea. Then, the rise of China. Now, other countries (and regions) are coming up, as well.

“I think in another eight to 10 years, you will see Asians … on top in many sports.”

Australia and Netherlands got some game-time under their belt in the first round of warm-up matches on Saturday, albeit in a match that ended in no result. Elsewhere, the India-England clash was called off without a ball being bowled.

Australia won the toss and opted to bat however the match was eventually abandoned due to rain.

But Thiruvananthapuram finally got to see some warm-up action at the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 after Friday’s clash between South Africa and Afghanistan was abandoned due to rain.

Saturday’s action was also truncated by rain, with only a 23-over-a-side game possible after a late start.

Having already played three games in India recently and familiar with the conditions, Australia decided to experiment with their batting order by giving their lower order a chance with the bat.

Steve Smith opened the batting with Josh Inglis but the latter’s stay at the crease was cut short by a peach of an inswinger from Logan van Beek. Smith, meanwhile, was on the attack and scored a fiery 55 off 42 balls laced with four boundaries and three maximums.

Australia lost Alex Carey and Glenn Maxwell in quick succession to the spin of Roelof van der Merwe and Shariz Ahmad respectively. Mitchell Starc came in at No.6 after Smith’s dismissal, and gave a good account of himself with an unbeaten 24 off 22 balls. Skipper Pat Cummins at No.7 couldn’t do the same.

Cameron Green gave the innings some much-needed impetus as well with a 26-ball 34 as Australia finished at 166/7 in 23 overs.

In reply, Netherlands were blown away by Mitchell Starc’s fiery spell that contained a stunning hat-trick. With three almost identical in-swingers, Starc removed three batters for golden ducks. He first trapped Max O’Dowd in front of the stumps before rattling the woodwork of Wesley Barresi and Bas de Leede.

Mitchell Marsh removed Vikramjit Singh soon after and Netherlands never managed to recover from the early loss of wickets. Colin Ackermann and Scott Edwards were the only two batters to get to double-digit scores and saved the Dutch from slipping further.

Just as a result was in sight, the rain returned in the 14th over and the match was abandoned with Netherlands at 84/6.

The Dutch will continue their stay at Thiruvananthapuram as they play their second warm-up game against India on Tuesday, 3 October. Australia head to Hyderabad to take on Pakistan on the same day.

England vs India

The warm-up match between India and England in Guwahati on Saturday was abandoned due to persistent rain. The only action possible was the toss, which Rohit Sharma won and elected to bat.

But just as the players were about to take the field, it started pouring and never relented.

Both teams will be hoping to get some game-time before the World Cup begins in the second round of warm-up matches. England will remain in Guwahati to face Bangladesh on 2 October while India travel to Thiruvananthapuram to face Netherlands.

Watch all warm up matches live

Ariana Television Network kicked off its live broadcast campaign of the ODI World Cup on Friday, September 29. Sadly, Afghanistan’s first warm up match – against South Africa – was rained out.

Both Afghanistan’s warm up matches will be broadcast live, on Ariana Television, along with other key matches. However, the balance of matches will be streamed live on our website.

Ariana Television broadcasts of warm up matches will start at 12:30pm on Friday, Saturday, Monday and Tuesday. Live coverage of other matches, on the same days, will be streamed on our websites.

For the full warm up broadcast and streaming schedule see table below.

Hosts China romped to gold in the men’s and women’s 100m sprints at the Asian Games as North Korea’s weightlifters scorched several world records on an action-packed Saturday.

Golds were up for grabs on a damp day in Hangzhou in everything from diving and eSports to athletics and roller skating, AFP reported.

China inevitably hoovered up many of them to take them to 114 golds in total at the halfway stage of the competition, well clear of Japan (28 golds) and South Korea (27).

The 100m sprints are among the most prestigious events of any Games and it was two Chinese speedsters who thrilled the raucous crowd with victories at the 80,000-capacity Hangzhou Olympic stadium.

First, Ge Manqi raced to the line in 11.23sec to take the women’s crown and then Xie Zhenye made it a double home delight with his winning time of 9.97sec for the men’s title.

Among other notable performances in track and field, the world’s number-two ranked pole vaulter EJ Obiena of the Philippines cleared 5.90m for gold and a Games record.

He admitted to mixed feelings, having relegated home favorite Huang Bokai to silver.

“The challenge is I feel a little bit like a villain today — it’s not my medal,” he said.

There were some eye-popping performances from North Korea’s women weightlifters.

They were competing at an international event for the first time since December 2019 after the country sealed its borders because of the pandemic.

But that did not stop them from shattering a slew of world records.

Ri Song Gum broke two world records in the women’s 49kg, the first weightlifting event in Hangzhou.

Then Kang Hyong Yong, a 24-year-old with no international pedigree, set a hat-trick of world records in snatch, clean and jerk, and combined on her way to gold in the women’s 55kg class.

China’s world champion Jiang Huihua, who took silver, said she was “surprised” at Ri’s success after such a long absence.

There were tears on the podium as Ri and Kang saluted the North Korean flag — which was hoisted once again in contravention of a World Anti-Doping Agency edict.

WADA declared the country’s national anti-doping body “non-compliant” in 2021 and slapped it with sanctions, including not being able to fly the flag at continental events.

“I feel very happy about breaking the world record and when I see my national flag flying I feel very excited to bring this good news to my people,” said Ri.

Fierce rivalries took center stage.

North Korea thrashed South Korea 4-1 in a feisty quarter-final of the women’s football.

South Korea, led by the English coach Colin Bell, included players who featured at the recent Women’s World Cup, where they went out in the group phase.

The neighbors, who are still technically at war, were locked at 1-1 when South Korea forward Son Hwa-yeon was sent off for a second yellow card close to half time.

North Korea made the most of their numerical advantage to score three times in the second period for an ultimately comfortable victory, their players celebrating wildly at the full-time whistle.

Pakistan and arch-rivals India then clashed in the men’s hockey group stage.

The highly anticipated showdown turned out to be a mismatch, however, as India thrashed their neighbors 10-2.

India also got one over Pakistan in squash, edging them 2-1 in the final of the men’s team competition.

Table tennis shock

In other action, China’s Zhang Zhizhen won the men’s singles tennis, adding his gold to the one collected by Zheng Qinwen in the women’s singles a day earlier.

“It’s been a very, very tough week, not just this match, but very tough for the whole week actually, from the first match onwards,” said Zhang.

In table tennis, the hosts won all five golds five years ago and are a global superpower in the sport.

But they were on the end of three defeats in the quarter-finals on Saturday.

In the biggest shock, the 16th-ranked Indian women’s pair of Ayhika Mukherjee and Sutirtha Mukherjee — not related — defeated world champions Chen Meng and Wang Yidi 3-1 to reach the last four.