Phnom Penh, Cambodia, October 2, 2022: The Acting President of the Olympic Council of Asia, Raja Randhir Singh, has declared that the Olympic movement in Asia is “back to normal” following the pandemic.
Raja Randhir will chair the 41st OCA General Assembly in Phnom Penh on Tuesday, October 4 and the agenda includes progress reports on the next four editions of the OCA’s showpiece event, the Asian Games, as well as other multi-sport games in the OCA portfolio.
“I think it’s nice to see everyone firstly after a year’s gap; since Dubai we have not met,” he said, referring to the 40th General Assembly in the United Arab Emirates in November 2021.
“Although we have been having zoom meetings going on, it is nice to be together. Then we have games coming up now and we have to start preparing the gap that has been missed out on the games. Now the calendar again starts, so it will be interesting.
“We hope everything remains perfect, all the pandemic is behind us and we look forward to seeing that everything goes off well.”
Looking ahead to the OCA calendar, which has the Asian Games confirmed through to Riyadh 2034, Raja Randhir added: “We have games that are there and ones that are coming up, so we have lots happening. We start the games from next year, with two games next year, and then the ones after that. It’s back to normal.”
The two events next year are the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, which were postponed from September 2022 to September 23-October 8, 2023, and the 6th Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games in Bangkok and Chonburi, Thailand next November.
Raja Randhir also spoke highly of the developing sports movement in Cambodia, with a new sports complex built for the Southeast Asian Games next May.
“The hospitality here has been excellent in Cambodia,” he added. “I went to see the main stadium today, 60,000 capacity, super stadium, and there are lovely Olympic Committee headquarters. You see the government support and, through the different sponsors, people are doing extremely well. Sport is coming up slowly. You see the surge in Asia.”