With athletes competing from 45 Asian nations, the event is an important milestone in their preparation for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Watch out for these five athletes, and their rivals, as the Asian Games kick off with the swimming finals this Saturday.
1. Hwang Sun-woo (Republic of Korea) - swimming
Fresh off a bronze medal finish in the men's 200m freestyle at the World Championships, and with a time that was within two one-hundredths of a second of the Asian record, Sun-woo will be hungry for gold in Hangzhou.
Sun-woo will face tough competition in the pool from China's Pan Zhanle. Ranked one spot behind Sun-woo for the fastest 200m freestyle times globally this year, Zhanle is more than amped to stand on the top step of the Asian Games podium in front of a home crowd.
Zhanle and Sun-woo are also close rivals in the men's 100m freestyle, with Zhanle holding the Asian record in that event at 47.22 seconds. Sun-woo's best time this year is 47.78 seconds, setting the scene for another fast and furious battle.
2. Ikee Rikako (Japan) - swimming
Another athlete to watch out for in the opening days of the Asian Games is Ikee Rikako. She took home the Female MVP award at the last edition of the Games in 2018, along with six gold and two silver medals.
Diagnosed with leukaemia a year later, and taking some additional time out to finish her university studies, she has been making a slow but steady return to her incredible form of 2018. Fans and fellow athletes will certainly be cheering loudly as Rikako fights for gold again in 2023.
3. Mutaz Essa Barshim (Qatar) - athletics
Barshim, the joint reigning Olympic men's high jump gold medallist, is fresh off a bronze in the high jump at the World Championships. He now has his sights set firmly on the Asian Games as a part of his preparation for Paris 2024.
Barshim's high jump PB is 2.43m which he set back in 2014. While this ranks him second in the highest high jumps of all time, his season PB is 2.36m.
The Qatari track and field athlete will face tough competition from Woo Sang-hyeok (Republic of Korea) who has a tantalisingly close PB of 2.35m, making the competition a battle of minds as much as bodies.
4. Neeraj Chopra (India) - athletics
Chopra's World Championship title last month in the men's javelin is the first gold medal result for India in any World Athletics Championships event.
Only the second Indian to claim an individual Olympic gold medal after winning the men's javelin title in Tokyo with a throw of 87.58m, Chopra's World Athletics Championships winning throw went even further at 88.17m.
Chopra's closest rival at the Asian Games will likely be Pakistan's Arshad Nadeem who finished second in August's World Championships. Nadeem is the first South Asian to throw further than 90m in competition at the 2022 Commonwealth Games with 90.18m throw.
Expect a good battle between these two rivals when athletics takes centre stage at the Asian Games in the second week of competition.
5. Kim Heon woo (Republic of Korea) - breakdancing
As the Asian Games hits its home stretch on Saturday, October 7, look forward to watching Heon woo in the men's breakdancing before the sport makes its Olympic debut in 2024.
Heon woo, known as Wing, won the WDSF Asian Breaking Championships in Hangzhou last July, a title he adds to over 100 other domestic and international victories.
Countrywoman Jeon Ji-ye, or Fresh Bella, is one to watch in the women's category after her figure skating background saw her win bronze at the 2023 WDSF Asian Breaking Championships. As breakdancing enters a new era through Olympic inclusion, the competition is certain to be as fierce as it is entertaining.
