Sanya, China, September 8, 2019: The Olympic Council of Asia held the second OCA Coordination Committee meeting with the organisers of the 2020 Asian Beach Games in Sanya, Hainan Island, on Sunday.
Sanya – a tropical tourist resort known as the “Hawaii of China” – will stage the OCA’s sixth Asian Beach Games from November 28 to December 6 next year.
The meeting, which took place at the Mangrove Tree Resort World in Sanya Bay, covered several key areas, including the sports programme, accreditation, sports entry deadlines for the OCA’s 45 National Olympic Committees, accommodation, transportation, medical and anti-doping, broadcasting and media and marketing.
The Chairman of the OCA Coordination Committee, Raja Randhir Singh, summed up the meeting, which was attended by officials from the city and provincial governments, the General Administration of Sport in China from Beijing and the Chinese Olympic Committee.
“We have had a very constructive meeting and the presentations have been excellent,” said Raja Randhir, who is an Honorary Life Vice President of the OCA.
“I hope that some of the advice from the OCA helps to make the Games a success. During the three hours a lot of work has been done and there has been a lot of input from both sides.”
With 446 days to go to the opening ceremony of the sixth Asian Beach Games, the OCA Coordination Committee leader praised the local organising committee SABGOC for following all the timelines to ensure a smooth and steady build-up in what will be a busy Olympic Games year due to Tokyo 2020.
“We are on the right track, and I can’t think of any problems that will come up,” he added.
The 17 sports approved will take place in one of three beach/sea clusters. The sports are: sailing, surfing, powered paragliding, beach water polo, beach volleyball, beach athletics, beach handball, beach woodball, duathlon, motor boat, dragon boat racing, 3×3 basketball, sports climbing, teqball, beach wrestling, beach kabaddi and beach soccer.
Mr A. Dong, Mayor of Sanya Municipal Government and Vice President/Secretary General of SABGOC, said preparations were going well since Sanya was awarded the Asian Beach Games by the OCA on August 19, 2018 in Jakarta, Indonesia.
“We are fully confident that the Asian Beach Games will drive the development of sports tourism in Sanya and also show to Asia and the world the Hainan Free Trade Zone and a new bridge,” he said.
The Director General of the OCA, Mr Husain Al Musallam, added: “Sanya is in a very good position to use and organise the best ever beach games, not only in Asia but also in the world, and to be integrated with the policy of China regarding the Free Trade Zone, visa exemptions, tourism and entertainment through sport.”