Asian Para Games: Exciting contest on cards in the pool

A total of 288 athletes from 27 National Paralympic Committees (NPCs) are set to compete in Para swimming events at the Hangzhou 2022 Asian Para Games which kicks off on Sunday (22 October) in China.

Para swimming events will take place from 23-27 October at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre Aquatic Sports Arena. The sport has featured at all three Asian Para Games to date, with 107 medal events contested at the 2018 Games in Indonesia.

Last time around it was China (39 gold medals), Japan (22) and Uzbekistan (15) who dominated the swimming events. But at this year's Para Swimming World Championships in Manchester, Hong Kong, Singapore and the Republic of Korea all finished ahead of Uzbekistan on the medal table.

China were in third place overall at the World Championships, with several multi-gold medallists competing in Hangzhou. These include Jiang Yuyan (three gold and two silver medals in the S6 events), Ma Jia (two gold, one silver and one bronze in S11 events), Lu Dong (two gold and two bronze in S5) and Wang Xinyi (one gold and one silver in S11 races) in women's events.

Meanwhile in the men’s events Yang Hong (two gold medals in the S6 class) and Guo Jincheng (two gold, one silver, One bronze) will be hoping to add to their medal haul this year in Hangzhou. Yuyan and Hong will be defending their titles from Indonesia 2018.

The youngest in the Games

Other ones to watch who will be arriving fresh from World Championships triumphs are Japan’s Naohide Yamaguchi (gold in the men’s 100m breaststroke SB14), Hong Kong’s Chan Yui Lam (gold in the women’s 100m butterfly S14) and the Republic of Korea’s Jo Giseong, who took a gold and a silver in Great Britain. Lam also topped the podium in the last edition of the Asian Para Games. 

Uzbekistan's Islam Aslanov returned home with two silver medals from Manchester. He took three gold and two silver at Indonesia 2018.

This year's Asian Para Games' youngest athlete will also be competing in Para swimming. Ng Cheuk Ya from Hong Kong is just 13 and will be in action in three races, including the women's 100m breaststroke SB6 in which she took a silver medal at the Worlds in Manchester last July.

Eighteen nations reached podium finishes at the last edition in Indonesia, 13 of them with at least one gold medal. India and Philippines picked their first gold in the sport with Suyash Jadhav and Ernie Gawilan, respectively. Both will be competing again in Hangzhou.  

Complete schedule and results of the Para swimming events at the Hangzhou 2022 Asian Para Games will be available here.