Asian Games: Flame-lighting ceremony held in Tokyo ahead of torch relay
TOKYO (Kyodo) -- A flame-lighting ceremony for the upcoming Asian Games torch relay was held in Tokyo on Tuesday, around a month before the opening of
Tokyo hosted a flame-lighting ceremony for the upcoming Asian Games torch relay on Tuesday, a month before the event commences. The ceremony took place at the National Stadium, also known as MUFG Stadium. Sprinter Yoshihide Kiryu, a silver medalist from the 2016 Rio Olympics and a member of Japan's Asian Games team, used the flame in the cauldron to ignite the torch.
Kiryu expressed his commitment to empowering the next generation with the entrusted flame. The historic cauldron, featured in the 1958 Asian Games and the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, was the venue for the event. Hiroshima Prefecture Governor Hideaki Omura and Seiko Hashimoto, president of the Japanese Olympic Committee, attended the ceremony.
They aimed to reaffirm Asian unity and peace through sports. Another flame-lighting ceremony is set for Thursday at Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, the site of the 1945 U.S. atomic bombing. The flames will be combined in Nagoya on Saturday before the torch relay begins, with three-time Olympic women's wrestling gold medalist Saori Yoshida serving as the first runner.
The Asian Games, held from September 19 to October 4, will be primarily hosted in Nagoya and other cities in Aichi Prefecture, with some competitions in Tokyo, Gifu, Shizuoka, and Osaka.
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