Hangzhou, China, September 9, 2021: The Director General of the Olympic Council of Asia, Mr Husain Al-Musallam, is confident that the preparations for the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China in September 2022 are going in the right direction.
Speaking at a press conference following the virtual Chefs de Mission Seminar on Thursday, Mr Al- Musallam said the stage was set for a successful Asian Games ahead of the one-year countdown ceremony on Friday.
“We had a successful two-day Chefs de Mission Seminar and tomorrow (Friday) we will celebrate together the one-year countdown for the 19th Asian Games Hangzhou 2022,” said Mr Al-Musallam.
“This Games will be smart, economical, green and ethical and I am sure that the organising committee will ensure the best environment for the athletes from the 45 nations coming to compete next year for the Asian Games in the beautiful city of Hangzhou.
“We are happy that all the milestones have been achieved and the preparations are going in the right direction in terms of the operations side, Athletes Village, sports programme, marketing and all the other requirements.
“We are looking forward to celebrating next year - in one year from now - the Asian Games with the 45 National Olympic Committees from Asia.”
The Chefs de Mission Seminar was attended by representatives of the Asian National Olympic Committees as well as from Oceania, who will be competing in the Asian Games for the first time. The General Administration of Sport in China, the Chinese Olympic Committee, future OCA games host cities and representatives of the five co-host cities for Hangzhou 2022 were also in attendance.
The 19th Asian Games will run from September 10-25, 2022, with 40 sports, 61 disciplines and 482 events, including esports for the first time as an official medal sport and also breaking ahead of its Olympic Games debut at Paris 2024.
There will be 55 competition venues throughout Zhejiang province in eastern China and 5 million tickets available for the 600 sports sessions.
The two-day seminar covered 15 major topics, including the sports programme, Athletes’ Village and five sub-villages, accreditation, ceremonies and security.
Organising committee HAGOC said that medical experts had attended the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games to observe the pandemic counter-measures and that guidelines were being drawn up in cooperation with the OCA for the safety and security of all participants next year.
