The 19th Asian Games, scheduled to be held in the Chinese city of Hangzhou from September 23 to October 8, will see the introduction of breakdancing as a medal event.
The sport, popularly known as breaking, was added to the Asian Games programme on China's request as host cities are now allowed to propose new events, giving them the ability to introduce or reintroduce sports that are popular in their country.
Along with breakdancing, video gaming discipline Esports will also be making its debut at the continental event. It is certain that these unconventional and intriguing disciplines would make the quadrennial event, touted as second only to the Olympics in terms of size, far more interesting.
Notwithstanding the raging debates and mixed opinions on whether it is a dance form or a sport item, breaking has already danced its way into the mainstream as it will be making its Summer Olympics debut in Paris next year.
India will not have any representation in breakdancing at Hangzhou 2022 as the Ministry of Sports refused to clear the four-member contingent for not fulfilling the selection criteria. Hosts China, Japan, Hong Kong, and Korea are billed to be strong medal contenders in the event.
Gaming for gold
Esports is popular among youngsters across the globe. It was a demonstration event at the 2018 Asian Games. China took the initiative to have electronic gaming as a discipline at the Asian Games as the country is now the largest Esports market in the world, with millions of fans and players.
The Esports disciplines that will make their debut at the Asian Games are FIFA-4, Arena of Valor, Dota 2, League of Legends, Dream of Three Kingdoms 2, Street Fighter V, and Game for Peace. The PUBG Mobile that had been a medal event previously could not make the cut this time around. Indians will be participating in four Esports events at Hangzhou 2022.
Cricket returns
Two other sports – cricket and chess - will also make a grand reentry at Hangzhou as medalling events. Cricket was part of the Asian Games programme in 2010 and 2014. All matches in the men's and women's events will be in the T20 format. This will be the maiden Asian Games for Indian cricket teams.
In chess, there will be four medal events – the men's individual rapid, women's individual rapid, men's team rapid, and women's team rapid. The last time chess featured at the Asian Games was in 2010.
