The opening ceremony of the fourth Asian Para Games Village, along with a welcoming ceremony for the Chinese delegation, was held in Hangzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province, on Monday.

Hangzhou, the host city for the 19th Asian Games from September 23 to October 8, will continue hosting the fourth Asian Para Games, set to take place between October 22 and 28.

According to the organizers, the Asian Games Village has been transformed into the Asian Para Games Village.

With an area of 325,000 square meters, the Village will provide 3,446 rooms for the delegations of the Asian Para Games.

All the facilities have tactile paving access and signs have been marked in Braille. Over 30 shuttle buses provide around-the-clock transportation services.

Rubber ramps are applied for wheelchair access, and protective strips are placed at wall corners. Beds can be adjusted to different heights, said organizers.

Torch relay

At a press conference on Monday, a detailed plan of the Games' torch relay was unveiled.

The flame for the fourth Asian Para Games was lit in Guangzhou in south China's Guangdong Province, on October 12, in honor of the host city of the inaugural Asian Para Games in 2010.

Later, the flame was transported from Guangzhou to Hangzhou on high-speed railway escorted by personnel from the organizing committee.

A total of 600 torchbearers, including 51 overseas torchbearers from 41 countries and regions, will participate in the relay that is set to start at the Xiushui Square near Qiandao Lake in Hangzhou's Chun'an County, on October 19.

The relay includes 228 female and 372 male torchbearers, with the youngest being a 14-year-old and the oldest 73.

Among them, 188 torchbearers are physically impaired, accounting for almost a third of the total.

Barrier-free ramps, rest rooms, and signs have been carefully designed and installed throughout the torch relay, which runs through three counties and six districts in Hangzhou.

The relay will cover 235 kilometers, connecting Qiandao Lake, Xin'an River, Fuchun River, and Qiantang River from west to east.

One of the highlights of the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou was smart technology, which also plays a role in the Asian Para Games, said Du Zuofeng, an organizer for the Games' relay event.

Smart bionic hands will be used to help torchbearers who have a disability in the upper limbs in terms of grasping, and smart bionic legs will be used to assist walking and running for torchbearers who are disabled in the lower limbs, said Du. 

Smart guide "dogs," that are actually robots installed with visual recognition systems, will help people who are visually impaired walk, Du noted.

It marks the first time that smart guide 'dogs' are used in the torch relay, Du added.

Tickets

According to the Games' official release, the offline ticketing channels for the fourth Asian Para Games in Hangzhou has been opened to the public since October 15.

Both online and offline ticket sales for seven sports – athletics, shooting, archery, blind football, goal ball, judo and lawn bowls – began on October 16.

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