Bangkok, Thailand, November 14, 2022: The Olympic Council of Asia conducted the first Coordination Committee meeting for the 6th Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games (AIMAG) in Bangkok on Monday, November 14.
The 6th AIMAG, which was originally scheduled for 2021, will take place in Bangkok and Chonburi province from November 17-26, 2023. There will be 35 sports on the programme, plus two demonstration sports, and a total of 334 gold medals.
The meeting heard that some of the sports would be held in shopping malls, universities, hotels and in parks as well as designated sports venues – bringing the games to the society.
“This is the beauty about it – combining all these sports venues together,” said the OCA Director General, Husain Al Musallam.
“We have full confidence in the ability of Thailand and the Thai people, the Sports Authority of Thailand and also the National Olympic Committee that the Indoor and Martial Arts Games in November 2023 will be one of the best Indoor and Martial Arts Games in Bangkok and Chonburi.”
Mr Al Musallam said he would like to place on record the thanks of the OCA for the hard work of the local organisers during the challenging times of the pandemic, and added: “But we are happy now. Sport always brings hope to bring life back to normal, and now we are here gathering together.”
The organising committee delivered presentations on nine major topics, including accreditation, transportation, IT solutions, TV host broadcasting, marketing, medical and anti-doping and the sports programme.
The opening ceremony on November 17 and closing ceremony on November 26 will both be held at the Indoor Stadium Huamark in the grounds of the Sports Authority of Thailand and the torch relay will run under the theme of “Flame of Hope” to match the Games motto of “Garland of Hope.”
The OCA is also looking for ways to work with the organising committee on delivering a sustainable games, such as staging more than one sport in each venue and reducing the number of vehicles to serve the athletes and officials.
In closing the meeting, the OCA Director General said that all the stakeholders were “one team”.
“The objective is to have a successful 6th Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games in two cities – Bangkok and Chonburi – in November 2023,” said Mr Al Musallam.
The first day of the two-day Coordination Committee meeting continued with a visit to some of the venues in Bangkok on Monday afternoon followed by a two-hour journey on the expressway to Pattaya for the second stage on Tuesday.
