September 18, 2014

The welcome ceremony for the athletes was held today at the ceremony plaza of the athlete’s village in Incheon, South Korea along with the National Olympic Committee’s (NOC) of Saudi Arabia, Syria, Qatar and Philippines. The ceremony take place in the leading up to the opening ceremony to officially welcome the athletes and the team officials to the athletes villages and it is featured the raising of each nations flags, singing the national anthem and a cultural performance reflecting the music culture and traditions of Korea and the ceremony concluded with gift exchange between the NOC delegations.

17th Asian Games Incheon The 17th Asian Games are to kick off in Incheon, South Korea from 19th September to 4th October 2014 with the slogan “Diversity shines here”. While this is the first time in history that Incheon will host the Games, in the past, South Korea has hosted them twice, in Seoul (1986) and Bussan (2002). It is the biggest multi-sport event in the world, hosting more than 13,000 athletes and 7,000 media officials from 45 member states of the Olympic Council of Asia. The games will host 439 events in 36 sports disciplines, including the 28 Olympic sports and 8 non-Olympic sports. 25 Bhutanese athletes will be participating in 7 sports disciplines, namely athletics, archery, boxing, golf, shooting and Taekwondo. The Asian Games are a highly recognized international platform to showcase athletic talent in Asia. We wish our athletes the best of luck and success in the Games as we proudly support them representing Bhutan. Go Bhutan! For updates please visit: http://www.incheon2014ag.org/Sports/Schedule/ByDate?Date=20140919&lang=en