Kuwait City, Kuwait, June 9, 2022: The Olympic Council of Asia will expand its Development Programme for coaches and referees to National Olympic Committees in Central Asia in November, 2022.
Following the unqualified success of the inaugural initiative held in Kuwait and targeting West Asia – the third phase which draws to an end on Thursday, June 9 – the OCA has decided to extend its much-lauded development programme to seven NOCs in Central Asia in Tashkent, Uzbekistan in early November.
“We are still in the preliminary stages of planning, but right now it looks as if Tashkent, Uzbekistan will host the next stage for five sports and seven NOCs from that region,” revealed Tony Tarraf, OCA Head of Athletes Development Department & Special Projects.
The seven NOCs are Afghanistan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
The coaches and referees will come from five sports: boxing, judo, swimming, weightlifting and wrestling.
“As you will see, we are looking at sports which are traditionally strong in those countries as we also want to raise the standards of the coaches and officials. Also as this is the first time we will be venturing away, we decided to start with a smaller zone, so that we can test out all the logistical issues,” Tarraf explained.
The 12 NOCs from West Asia which completed the maiden Development Programme split into three phases were held at the OCA Headquarters in Salmiya with practical courses held around many of the sporting venues which recently hosted the Gulf Games.
“We will be talking to the International Federations and Asian Federations of the five sports, so that we get top-quality instructors as we did for the nine sports in the West Asian programme. We were always going to expand this programme, and the huge success of the one held in Kuwait, just gives us an added boost,” Tarraf added.