Nagoya, Japan, January 8, 2024: The Olympic Council of Asia conducted the first Coordination Committee meeting for the 20th Asian Games Aichi-Nagoya 2026 at Nagoya City Hall on Monday, January 8.
In his opening address, the OCA Director General, Mr. Husain Al-Musallam, said the first OCA CC meeting for the next Asian Games would “show our commitment to the success of the 2026 Asian Games”.
“We have less than three years to go until the next Asian Games and we need to work together from here as one team for one goal: the success of the Asian Games in 2026,” he said.
The Chair of the OCA Coordination Committee, Mr. Timothy Fok, said that, with Japan’s experience in hosting major international multi-sport games, he was confident that Aich-Nagoya would add another golden chapter to the history of the Asian Games.
“With less than three years to go, we have no time to waste,” he said.
The commitment of Nagoya city and Aichi prefecture was evident with the presence of Mr. Hideaki Ohmura, President of organising committee AINAGOC and Governor of Aichi Prefecture, and by Mr. Takashi Kawamura, Deputy President of AINAGOC and Mayor of Nagoya City.
The Japan Olympic Committee was represented by Ms. Yuko Mitsuya, Deputy President of AINAGOC and JOC Vice President.
The 20th Asian Games will be held from September 19 to October 4, 2026 and will be the third Asian Games to take place in Japan after Tokyo 1958 and Hiroshima 1994. The slogan is “Imagine One Asia”.
The first morning of the two-day meeting included presentations on the slogan and concept of Aichi-Nagoya 2026, timeline, organisation and human resources, sports programme and athletes’ accommodation.
For the first time in history, the Asian Games will not have an Athletes’ Village due to construction and labour costs, and the difficulty of selling the apartments to a declining population, according to AINAGOC.
Instead, organisers plan to use 70 accommodation facilities, with 14 in Nagoya city, 39 in Aichi prefecture and 17 outside Aichi prefecture based on the location of sports competitions.
Although the sports progamme is not finalized, the basic plan is for 41 sports, 58 disciplines and 400 events at 55 competition venues.
Some of the sports will be held outside Aichi prefecture, including swimming and diving at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre, equestrian at the JRA Equestrian Park in Tokyo and cycling – track at Izu Velodrome in Shizuoka.
The first day of the CC meeting continued with a venue visit on Monday afternoon.