Asian Games offer a few sports you may not recognize. How about kabaddi, sepaktakraw, and wushu?
By STEPHEN WADE
AP Sports Writer
If you are bored with day-in, day-out sports like basketball or swimming or volleyball, then check out the Asian Games when they open in Hangzhou, China. Of course, the games will have the regular Olympic menu of events with some offering qualifying for next year’s Paris Olympics. But much of the focus will be on sports that are popular in a region that represents 45 nations and territories. About 12,500 are participating, more than the Summer Olympics. The Asian Games will also feature so-called “mind sports” that include bridge, chess, xiangqi (known as Chinese chess) and several others. Esports, offered as a demonstration sport five years ago, is official this time.