The long-awaited 19th Asian Games, that was postponed for 12 months because of the COVID-19 pandemic, finally gets underway on Tuesday 19 September in Hangzhou, China, and beIN SPORTS (‘beIN’), the leading sports and entertainment broadcaster, is preparing to take fans in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) closer than ever to the action across the next three weeks.
beIN’s live broadcast will start with the preliminary events from 19 September, before its broad and comprehensive coverage begins when the event officially opens on 23 September until 8 October, with a special focus on the 12 participating Arab teams.
The 19th Asian Games are expected to feature delegations from 45 countries competing in 482 events across 40 sports, including – for the first time – baseball, softball, karate, sports climbing, breakdancing, and esports.
beIN’s coverage of Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games
Broadcasting its fifth Asian Games, beIN will provide its viewers and subscribers with extensive and exclusive coverage that amounts to more than 2000 hours of premium live events and supporting programmes.
Up to 96 hours of live coverage from the tournament will be broadcast across 15 beIN SPORTS channels each day in Arabic and English, from 03:00 until 18:00 MECCA.
Starting on 23 September, viewers can tune in to a six-hour live studio from 12:00 midday until 18:00 MECCA for 16 consecutive days. beIN SPORTS’ free-to-air news channel will also broadcast live coverage daily starting at 10:00 MECCA.
As ever, beIN’s live coverage will feature an expert broadcast team made up of more than 50 leading presenters, analysts, commentators, reporters, and former athletes. Presenters Mohammad Kidan, Asya Abdullah, Nirvana Elabd, and Jamal Al Hasni will lead the studio coverage, which will feature insights from across all arenas and competitions, plus provide viewers with a guide to which games are being broadcast on which channels.
Mohammed Al Bader, Managing Director of beIN’s MENA Channels, said: "The Asian Games is one of the most revered and watched multi-sports tournaments in the world and our comprehensive coverage plans have been designed to showcase the importance and magnitude of this prestigious quadrennial event. With Doha winning hosting rights for the 2030 edition, it also represents a perfect early chance to whet MENA viewers’ appetites a little for what is coming to the region in the future.”
beIN’s special focus on the 12 Arab teams will be sure to include the Men’s Football tournament, which doubles up as preparation for next April’s AFC U23 Asian Cup in Qatar and provides five qualifying spots for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Likewise, Kuwait, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and reigning gold medalists Qatar will all be looking to secure a place on the handball podium and claim one of the three sports at Paris 2024 that comes with it.
As part of a 180+ delegation from Qatar, Olympians Fares Ibrahim and Mutaz Barshim will be determined to shine for their country once again in weightlifting and high jump respectively after securing gold medals at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. Nasser Al Attiyah, bronze medalist in Men’s Skeet shooting at London 2012, is also travelling to Hangzhou and likely to be joined by Hamad Al Marri, who took bronze at the 2018 Asian Games in Palembang.
beIN is committed to giving the men’s and women’s games equal exposure this year, branding its coverage of female sports under its beINSPIRED initiative. In addition to covering all the women’s games, beIN will be shining the spotlight on female talent from the region such as Kuwait’s Sarah and Shahad Al Hawal, Bahrain’s Winfred Yavi, Iraq’s Fatima Saad and Jordan’s Julyana Al Sadeq.