Canoeing is a water sport where the athlete has to use their muscle power to paddle a canoe.

A kayak is propelled using a paddle with two blades where the paddler sits with their legs mostly extended in front of them, whereas canoes are propelled using single- or double-bladed paddles where the paddler is kneeling or sitting on seat.

The International Canoe Federation is the worldwide canoeing organisation and creates the standard rules for the different disciplines of canoe/kayak competition.

The ICF recognises several competitive and non-competitive disciplines for example Sprint, Marathon and White-water racing is a type of extreme sports where competitors race in specialised canoes or kayaks down a white-water river.

Canoeing and Kayaking were incorporated into the Asian Games in 1990.

Canoe slalom is one kind of canoeing. 

In the slalom discipline, competitors travel down a 300m-long course on turbulent, 'white-water' rapids.

They must pass through a twisting sequence of 25 'gates', avoiding penalty points for touching the poles.

Green and white gates must be taken in a 'downstream' direction; red and white 'upstream' gates require competitors to paddle against the current. A touch is penalised by two seconds added to the competitor's time; missing a gate costs 50 seconds - a 'wipeout' in serious competition.

Each competitor takes two runs, and the times are added together. Events are held for single kayakers (C1, K1, men and women), single canoeists (C1) and pairs of canoeists (C2).