Asian Games 2023: China decides against fireworks at Hangzhou event opening ceremony

Fireworks are a regular feature during the opening or closing ceremony of a sporting event but the opening ceremony of the Asian Games in Hangzhou, which will be staged on 23 September, will not feature traditional fireworks performance. “The opening ceremony of the Hangzhou Asian Games will break the tradition of having fireworks performance, as we are sticking to a green philosophy in hosting the event,” said Sha Xiaolan, the general director of the games’ opening ceremony, said on Sunday. “As we want to reduce the carbon emissions as much as possible, so we have decided to cut the fireworks performances.” Sha, however, added that new technologies like visual effects and sound shows will be used to communicate with the audience on the theme of “people, beauty and emotions” “The most important thing is that we want to spread our philosophy of environmental protection, and that’s why we finally made the decision,” Sha added. While the Asian Games officially starts on 23 September, some events including football, volleyball and cricket will start on 19 September. India are sending a mega contingent of 655 athletes who will take part in 39 different sports. In 2018, India came eighth in the standings and won 70 medals including 16 gold, 23 silver and 31 bronze medals. This was India’s best ever medal haul at an Asian Games.