Phnom Penh, Cambodia, October 4, 2022: The Acting President of the Olympic Council of Asia, Raja Randhir Singh, closed the 41st OCA General Assembly at the Sokha Phnom Penh Hotel on Tuesday afternoon.
Following a near six-hour meeting, Raja Randhir thanked the National Olympic Committee of Cambodia for their warm hospitality and for all the facilities provided.
“Also, I would like to appreciate the fact we have met, after a long time, face to face. We are all one family. We are a group of 45 National Olympic Committees, and we have been joined by the Oceania National Olympic Committees, the IOC, the Association of National Olympic Committees and other very important stakeholders of the Asian Olympic movement,” he said.
“We have made some very important decisions, and it is a pleasant surprise that Saudi Arabia will be the host of the next Asian Winter Games in 2029.”
Raja Randhir thanked the 400 delegates for attending the meeting and for helping to make it a big success.
Decisions taken included:
*The OCA Coordination Committee will visit Thailand on November 14-15 to meet organisers of the 6th Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games (AIMAG 6), which will take place in Bangkok and Chonburi province from November 17-26, 2023. Organisers said the two hosting hubs were fully prepared regarding accommodation, facilities and venue preparation for the 34 sports – 25 indoor and nine martial arts, as well as two demonstration sports. There will be a total of 336 events.
*The organising committee of the 20th Asian Games Aichi-Nagoya 2026 said the sports programme would be finalised next March, but basically there will be 32 sports from the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, five regional games from the OCA’s five zones, plus a maximum of two sports each from the OCA and local organising committee. It will be athlete-centred and will mostly use existing sports facilities. The Athletes Village will be 30 minutes from the main venue of Nagoya City Mizuho Park Athletic Stadium. The slogan is “Imagine One Asia” and the 20th Asian Games will run from September 19 to October 4, 2026. Aichi-Nagoya 2026 already employs 100 staff.
*On behalf of the organising committee of the Doha 2030 Asian Games, Qatar Olympic Committee’s Director of Marketing and Communication Department, Asma Thani Al-Thani, announced details of Project Legacy that will benefit and support Asia’s National Olympic Committees over the next eight years. Doha 2030 staff will gain experience by working at the FIFA World Cup 2022, the IJF World Judo Championships in 2023 and the FINA World Championships in 2024, providing a well-qualified workforce for the Asian Games. There will be 54 sports and disciplines in 39 venues. “Doha is ready!” was the theme of the presentation.
*OCA signed an agreement with Saudi Arabia for the establishment of a regional education office in Riyadh.
*The OCA Athletes’ Committee is finalizing plans for the OCA Athletes’ Forum in Bangkok in March 2023 to be held in cooperation with the IOC.
*The OCA Gender Equity Committee announced that 42 National Olympic Committees will join the Gender Equity Seminar in Manama, Bahrain on October 30-31
*The Deputy Secretary General of Kuwait Olympic Committee, Ali Al Marri, put forward Kuwait to host the next OCA General Assembly. He also stressed that Kuwait wanted to remain the home of the OCA “forever” after hosting the organisation since 1981. He also said that, if the OCA President, Sheikh Ahmad Al Fahad Al Sabah, was not cleared of charges in a Swiss court in November, the KOC would nominate the KOC Secretary General, OCA Director General and FINA President Husain Al Musallam as the next President of the OCA. “He is one of the people who built the OCA step by step, brick by brick,” said Ali Al Marri.