Thriving rivalries

Swimming

The swimming competitions at the Asian Games always produce some of the event's most thrilling contests, with China, Japan and the Republic of Korea traditionally the top performers in the pool.

Olympic and world champions Wang Shun, Zhang Yufei and Qin Haiyang will lead China's charge after impressing at July's World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka, Japan. Team China returned home from the worlds with five gold, three silver and eight bronze medals to rank third in the swimming medal table.

Breaststroke ace Qin wowed the world with four gold medals in Fukuoka, while Tokyo Olympic champion Zhang claimed the women's 100m butterfly title. Up-and-coming youngsters Li Bingjie and Sun Jiajun also impressed at the worlds and will be hoping to reach the podium in Hangzhou.

Team China can expect stiff competition from the likes of Japan's Tomoru Honda, who won bronze in the men's 200m butterfly at the worlds, and Hwang Sun-woo from ROK, who won men's 200m freestyle bronze in Fukuoka.

Esports

The addition of esports to the Hangzhou Asian Games as an official medal sport has attracted huge attention, especially among the younger generation. Seven esports games will be contested in Hangzhou, with the League of Legends battle between China and the Republic of Korea the most hotly anticipated of the lot.

The teams' gold-medal matchup at the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games, when esports was included in the Asiad for the first time as a demonstration sport, went down in history as an absolute classic.

Tian Ye, aka Meiko, is the only player from China's victorious 2018 squad on this year's roster, so young players will need to step up and prove their worth in Hangzhou.