(2nd LD) (Asiad) Competition begins with celebration of host city's hospitality, harmony in Asia

(ATTN: ADDS info on N. Korea, photo)
By Yoo Jee-ho and Kim Boram

NAGOYA/TOKYO, Sept. 19 (Yonhap) -- The 20th edition of the Asian Games opened with a celebration of warm hospitality in the main host city of Nagoya on Saturday, with thousands of athletes from 45 nations gathering for the continent's largest sporting event.

The official name of the competition, the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, features the name of both Aichi Prefecture and its capital, Nagoya. This is the third Asian Games to be held in Japan, after Tokyo in 1958 and Hiroshima in 1994.

Nagoya is the main host but several sports will be spread in and around Aichi. All swimming races will be in Tokyo, while some football matches will be played in the cities of Osaka and Shizuoka, both outside Aichi.

Under the slogan "Imagine One Asia," athletes will compete for 469 gold medals in 43 sports and 71 disciplines through Oct. 4.

The opening ceremony, directed by Nagoya-born filmmaker Yukihiko Tsutsumi, took place at Nagoya City Mizuho Park Athletic Stadium under the theme of "Harmonic Heart Beat," symbolizing athletes from across the continent building connections.

The ceremony, according to Tsutsumi, upheld "the spirit of warm hospitality" that defines Nagoya and Aichi, and the main stage took the shape of a large heart.

Athletes marched into the stadium in the order of the English alphabet for their countries' names. South Korea, going by the official name "Republic of Korea," was 16th, immediately after Kazakhstan and ahead of Kuwait.

According to the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee, South Korea is competing in 41 of 43 sports -- except cricket and padel -- with 1,051 athletes and officials on hand. Of those, 50 athletes and officials from nine sports attended the opening ceremony.

Table tennis star Shin Yu-bin and veteran rower Kim Dong-yong served as co-flag bearers for South Korea.

Shin, 22, will compete in the women's singles, women's doubles, mixed doubles and the women's team event. She and her partner, Lim Jong-hoon, are world No. 1 in the mixed doubles and are considered a big medal threat in Nagoya. At the 2023 Asian Games, Shin swept up four medals, including gold in the women's doubles.

Kim, 35, has been representing South Korea for 17 years. In Nagoya, he will compete in the men's double sculls and the quadruple sculls events, and he is considered a medal contender in the latter event.

South Korea is targeting about 45 gold medals, with a goal of narrowing the gap with Japan in the medal race as China is expected to dominate the competition once again.

At the 2023 Asian Games, Japan finished in second place with 52 gold medals, 10 more than South Korea.

South Korea will be chasing multiple gold medals out of the gate Sunday.

In modern pentathlon, Jun Woong-tae and Seong Seung-min are both gold medal contenders in the men's and women's events.

Lee Jun-suk reached the final of the men's singles in teqball, newly added to the Asian Games this year. The men's basketball team will take on Japan in the gold medal game in men's basketball.

The swimming competition will start in Tokyo on Sunday, with South Korea's Hwang Sun-woo, a six-time medalist from 2023, and his teammate Kim Young-beom will race in the men's 100-meter freestyle.

North Korea is also participating in its first Asian Games appearance on Japanese soil.

Under its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the country was eighth in the parade, right after China.

Boxer Hwang Hyo-sun and table tennis player U Tae-ryong carried their country's flag, as their fellow athletes and officials, decked out in white jackets and blue trousers or skirts, waved their flags behind them. Some were seen taking photos with what appeared to be their smartphones.

North Korea has sent 107 athletes to 14 sports. It finished 10th at each of the past two editions of the Asian Games -- winning 12 gold medals in 2018 and 11 gold medals in 2023.