The 17th Games of Guangdong Province and the 10th Guangdong Para Games opened at Maoming Olympic Sports Center on August 9, with the Dongguan delegation making a proud appearance at the ceremony. The names of celebrated Dongguan athletes and coaches, including Chen Jingkai, Zeng Guoqiang, Chen Weiqiang and Du Feng, were announced in recognition of their contributions to Chinese and Guangdong sports.

Dongguan has sent its largest-ever delegation to the provincial games. The 1,446-member team comprises 1,218 athletes, 170 coaches and 58 staff members. It will compete in 28 sports in the competitive division and eight in the mass participation division, aiming to rank among Guangdong's top three in both gold medals and overall points, and first among the province's prefecture-level cities.

By the opening ceremony, Dongguan had already secured 79.5 gold medals, including bonus golds awarded for performances at designated major competitions. Rowing led the medal drive with 13 golds, the best result in the city’s history and the highest total in Guangdong. Shooting added 10, swimming nine, while trampoline and badminton contributed five each. Dongguan also swept the women’s Group A basketball competition and claimed golds in cycling, boxing, wrestling, equestrian and modern pentathlon.

More medal opportunities lie ahead in taekwondo, basketball, diving, canoeing, athletics, archery, weightlifting and marathon swimming. Featuring around 25,000 athletes from all 21 prefecture-level cities in Guangdong, the provincial games will continue until August 22.