Kuwait City, Kuwait, September 7, 2020: The Olympic Council of Asia Sports Committee met online on Monday, September 7 under the chairmanship of Mr Song Luzeng of China.
Mr Song, who is a Vice President of the OCA, welcomed the committee members and the organising committees of four OCA international multi-sport games to be held in the next two years, as well as representatives from the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and OCA HQ directors.
The OCA will host three games in 2021, starting with the sixth Asian Beach Games in Sanya, China in April, followed by the sixth Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games in Bangkok/Chonburi, Thailand in May and finally the third Asian Youth Games in Shantou, China in November. The 19th Asian Games will be held in Hangzhou, China in September 2022.
The sports programmes, venue preparations and management and operations of the four games were presented by the respective organising committees.
The sixth Asian Beach Games were due to be held in Sanya, in tropical Hainan province, in November 2020 but were postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and rescheduled for April 2-10.
Sanya officials reported that 3,173 athletes from 43 National Olympic Committees had registered to take part in the 17 sports, 19 disciplines and 93 events in four venue clusters. The 3,173 athletes comprises 1,923 male athletes and 1,250 females.
"The registration process has not been affected by the pandemic," said a Sanya official. "We have still to decide the date for the final registration, the entry by name, and we will announce this as soon as it is confirmed."
The Asian Beach Games Athletes' Village will pre-open for team officials on March 23, open officially on March 26 and close on April 13.
The sixth Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games will be held from May 21-30 in Bangkok and Chonburi province with 29 sports, 290 events and two demonstration sports, including teqball for the first time at an OCA event. The mascot is a Fighting Parrot.
The third Asian Youth Games will take place in Shantou, Guangdong province, from November 20-28, 2021, and follow the Singapore AYG in 2009 and Nanjing AYG in 2013.
The sports department of the Hangzhou Asian Games Organising Committee (HAGOC) gave a presentation on the sports programme ahead of the third OCA Coordination Committee meeting to be held on Tuesday, September 8.
Mr Song also briefed committee members on the recent collaboration between the OCA and the Global Esports Federation, which is based in Singapore.
Closing the meeting, which attracted 38 participants online through the Zoom video conference programme, Mr Song said: "We are pleased to see that the preparations for all these games have been going on smoothly. Through the presentations of the organising committees we have a clearer picture of the preparations of the games.
"We appreciate very much the efforts and progress of the games and your contribution to the development of sport in Asia and the world."