The 12th Asian Indoor Athletics Championships got underway at the Tianjin Tuanbo Sports Center Athletics Arena on Friday, attracting more than 300 athletes from 35 countries and regions to compete in 26 events over three days, marking the highest-level indoor athletics event in Asia in recent years.

At the opening ceremony, Gen Dahlan Al Hamad, president of the Asian Athletics Association, said that Tianjin, with its profound historical heritage and spirit of hospitality, is an ideal venue for hosting this edition of the championships and wished the championships complete success.