ESPN STAR Sports, Asia’s no. 1 sports content provider, kicks off the biggest Winter Sports extravaganza in the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games, starting with the Opening Ceremony this Saturday 13 February 2010 at 7:25 am live on ESPN. Three Indians including Ski athletes Tashi Lundup and Jamyang Namgyal and Luger Shiva Keshavan will spearhead the Indian challenge at the Winter Olympics.
The Vancouver Games will showcase some of the best winter sport athletes in the world performing extraordinary herculean feats and achieving sporting glory over the next two weeks. Across Asia, sport fans will be keenly following the performance of Asian athletes, who are expected to make a big impact in Vancouver and much will be expected from South Korea, China and Japan in the speed skating, short-track speed skating, figure skating and freestyle skiing events. In the Torino Winter Olympic Games in 2006, the three Asian countries brought back nine gold medals, seven silvers and seven bronzes.
ESPN STAR Sports, IOC’s exclusive pay TV broadcast partner in Asia for the Vancouver 2010 and London 2012 Olympic Games across 22 countries, will showcase the LIVE coverage from 13 February to 1 March 2010 on ESPN, and sports fans can visit www.espnstar.com for programme highlights and broadcast details.
The women’s figure skating will feature a trio of World Figure Skating Champions from Asia who have won the last three world titles – Japan’s Miki Ando (2007), Mao Asada (2008) and the current world champion Kim Yu-Na of South Korea. The much-anticipated rivalry between 19-year-old Kim and Mao is set to spice up the competition, where they will be competing in their first Olympic Games after missing the 2006 Torino Games because they were too young to be eligible.
China’s women speed skaters are touted as the rising Asian power to watch at this Olympic Winter Games led by Olympic and World Short Track Speed Skating women’s defending champion Wang Meng. She secured three medals in Torino 2006, has stood on 21 world championship podiums, and has nine World Cup victories in five competitions this season so far.
History will also be made when China’s women’s curling team makes its first appearance at an Olympic Winter Games, and as the reigning world champions, the team has set an ambitious gold medal target having won the title in last year’s World Women’s Curling Championship. Another team making its debut is South Korea’s bobsled team, after the four-man squad qualified for the Olympic Games for the first time.
The 2010 Olympic Winter Games will feature seven sports and 86 medal events: Biathlon, Bobsleigh and Skeleton, Curling, Ice Hockey, Luge, Skating (Figure Skating, Short Track Speed Skating, Speed Skating), Skiing (Alpine Skiing, Cross-Country Skiing, Freestyle Skiing, Nordic Combined, Ski Jumping, Snowboard).
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