Asian Athletics Championships 2017: Here's everything you know about the Bhubaneswar meet — VIDEO

New Delhi: The 22nd Asian Athletics Championships kicked off with a glittering opening ceremony in Bhubaneswar on Wednesday. But the competition will commence from Thursday.

Here's everything you need to know about the meet:

The capital city of Odisha saved the blues for India after Ranchi, which was originally given the hosting rights, pulled out at the last minute.

The Athletics Federation of India chose Bhubaneswar as the new venue, and people of Odisha took the challenge, and readied the venue in just 90 days.

This is the second time in last six years that India is hosting the prestigious 'biennial' meet. In 2013, Pune hosted the 20th edition. India first hosted the meet in 1989, in Delhi after it's advent in 1973.

Competition will be held at the Kalinga Stadium, which was renovated to an international standard. It now features a main Olympic-level synthetic track and warm-up track, besides newly-installed elevators and state-of-the-art high mast floodlights.

The city will also be hosting the 2016–17 Men's FIH Hockey World League Final in December, before next year's Hockey World Cup.

Asia's athletics' flagship event will be a four-day affair, to be held from 6 to 9 July. It will also serve as a qualifying event for the IAAF World Championships in London with winners gaining direct entry into the August event.

In total, there will be 42 sporting events – 21 for men and 21 for women – to be competed in both the track and field.

Doordarshan Sports will telecast the event live. Tickets are priced at INR 50.

As hosts, India are eligible to field three athletes in each discipline, instead of the usual two. India finished third in the previous edition, held at Wuhan (China) with 13 medals (four gold, five silver and four bronze). China were runaways winners with 41 medals (15 gold, 13 silver and 13 bronze). India were fifth in 2013 with 17 medals (two gold, six silver and nine bronze).

A 95-member Indian team, with 46 women, with challenge other teams from 44 nations.

Indian team:

Mens' squad: Amiya Kumar Mallick (100m/200m); Muhammed Anas, Amoj Jacob and Arokia Rajiv (400m); Jinson Johnson, Vishambhar Keolkar (800m); Ajay Kumar Saroj, Siddhantha Adhikari (1500m); G Lakshmanan, Murli Kumar Gavit (5000m); G Lakshmanan, Gopi Thonakal, Kalidas Hirave (10,000m); Naveen Kumar, Durga Bahadur Budha (3000m Steeplechase); Siddhant Thingalaya, Prem Kumar (110m Hurdles); Jabir MP, Santhosh Kumar T, Durgesh Kumar Pal (400m Hurdles); S Siva (Pole vault), Chethan B, Ajay Kumar (High jump); Ankit Sharma, Samsheer SE, Siddharth Mohan Naik (Long jump); Arpinder Singh, Karthik U (Triple jump); Tajinder Pal Toor, Jasdeep Singh Dhillon, Omprakash Singh Karhana (Shot put); Vikas Gowda, Dharamraj Yadav, Kirpal Singh (Discus throw); Niraj Kumar (Hammer throw); Neeraj Chopra, Davinder Singh Kang, Abhishek Singh (Javelin throw); Jagtar Singh, Abhishek Shetty (Decathlon ), Amiya Kumar Mallick, Jyotishankar Debnath, Anuroop John, VK Elakkiya Dasan, Pravin Muthukumaran, Chintha Sudhakar (4x100m Relay), Muhammed Anas, Amoj Jaco, Arokia Rajiv, Sachi Roby, Mohan Kumar, Kunju Muhammed (4x400m Relay).

Womens' squad: Dutee Chand, Srabani Nanda (100m/200m); Nirmala, MR Poovamma, Jisna Mathew (400m); Tintu Luka, Archana Adhav, Lili Das (800m); Monika Choudhary (1500m); L Suriya, Sanjivani Jadhav (5000m); L Suriya, Sanjivani Jadhav, Meenu (10,000m); Sudha Singh, Parul Chaudhary (3000m Steeplechase ); Nayana James (100m Hurdles); Anu R, Jauna Murmu, Arpitha M (400m Hurdles); KM Sangeeta (Pole vault); Sahana Kumari, Swapna Barman (High jump); Nayana James, Neena V, G Karthika (Long jump); Sheena NV, Joyline Murali Lobo (Triple jump); Manpreet Kaur, Ramanpreet Kaur, Anamika Das (Shot put); Kamalpreeet Kaur Bal, Seema Punia, Himani Singh (Discus throw); Sarita R Singh, Gunjan Singh (Hammer throw); Annu Rani, Poonam Rani Singh, Suman Devi (Javelin throw); Swapna Barman, Purnima Hembram, Liksy Joseph (Heptathlon); Dutee Chand, Srabani Nanda, Merlin Joseph, Reena George, Ruma Sarkar, Himashree Roy (4x100m Relay); Nirmala, Poovamma, Jisna Mathew, Vijayakumari GK, Sarita Ben Gayakwad, Debashree Mazumdar (4x400m Relay).