The government of China's Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) held a departure ceremony for its contingent for the 19th Asian Games at the government headquarters on Tuesday.

With a total of 273 members, China's Macao will take 183 athletes to the Asian Games in Hangzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province, to compete in 21 sports, including athletics, basketball, badminton, swimming, dragon boat racing and Wushu.

Ho Iat Seng, the Macao SAR Chief Executive, handed the SAR flag to the team at the ceremony. He wished China's Macao the best performance at the Asian Games, expecting them to work hard and win the honor for the country and for the SAR. Meanwhile, Ho wanted the SAR to get ready to join hands with Guangdong Province and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region to host the 15th National Games of China in 2025.

"China's Macao will participate in their ninth edition of Asian Games in Hangzhou this year," the Macao SAR's President of the Sports Bureau, Pun Weng Kun, told China Media Group (CMG). "Every team and every athlete have been well prepared for it. Everybody wants to compete for the medal and the honor for the SAR."

"It's my second edition of Asian Games in Hangzhou," artistic swimmer Chau Cheng Han said. "We were the eighth in the event last time. I'm glad that we can compete with top athletes in Hangzhou and hope that we can do better this time."

Having competed in the Asian Games eight times, China's Macao won a total of 33 medals, including two golds secured by Jia Rui in Guangzhou, south China's Guangdong Province, in 2010 and Huang Junhua in Jakarta, Indonesia, in 2018, both in the Wushu sport.

The 19th Asian Games will begin in Hangzhou on September 23 and end on October 8.

(Cover photo: The contingent of China's Macao depart the Macao Special Administrative Region for Hangzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province, for the 19th Asian Games, September 12, 2023. /CMG)