Asian Games torch arrives in host city Guangzhou

The Asian Games torch has arrived in the host city Guangzhou after a nationwide tour, one week before the start of the world's second-largest sporting event after the Olympics.

Torchbearers will from Saturday carry the flame through the booming southern metropolis in the Pearl River Delta – a journey that will end when the Asiad cauldron is ignited at the opening ceremony on November 12.

The relay began in Beijing on October 12, when Chinese President Hu Jintao handed the Games flame to the first of 2,010 torch bearers at an elaborate and colourful ceremony outside the Temple of Heaven in the capital.

"The torch relay is an important part of the build-up to the Games which spreads the Olympic spirit as well as the message of peace and friendship to Asia and even the world," the Games organising committee said in a statement.

Nearly 12,000 athletes from 45 countries and regions will compete at the Asian Games, which runs through November 27.

The Asiad torch relay has been staged solely in China.

The 2008 Beijing Olympic Games torch relay was riddled with controversy after anti-China protests erupted in Europe and the United States during the international legs of the event.