Asian Games 2014 @ Incheon

Ace archer Deepika Kumari and double Olympic medallist wrestler Sushil Kumar are selected as the goodwill ambassadors for the Asian Games. Three life size mascots were unveiled.

The slogan of the 17th Asian Games, “Diversity shines here”, was depicted nicely in the road show organised in New Delhi, which had hosted the first Asian Games in 1951.

After the Summer Olympics, the Asian Games may be the biggest sporting event in the world, with 36 disciplines including eight non-Olympic events, but the President of the Incheon Asian Games Organising Committee (IAGOC), Kim Youngsoo, said that every effort was being made towards an economically effective Games so as to give hope for the future hosts with possibly tight budgets. It will be the third Asian Games to be hosted by Korea after Seoul (1986) and Busan (2002). The organisers have promised ‘to build harmony and share the glory of victory’. As another token of goodwill, the Korean organisers also presented $1500 each to the badminton academy run by P. Gopi Chand and the Markandeshwar Hockey Centre.

After expressing confidence about delivering the best medal tally in the Asian Games, despite it being a heavy season with the Commonwealth Games and the World Championships, Deepika Kumari and Sushil Kumar, posed with the three mascots — Vichuon (light), Barame (wind) and Chumuro (dance) — to cap a memorable presentation.