Nagoya, Japan, January 9, 2024: The Olympic Council of Asia believes the 20th Asian Games Aichi-Nagoya 2026 can engage the public far and wide in Japan and beyond.
At a press conference on Tuesday to look back on the first OCA Coordination Committee meeting on January 8-9, OCA Coordination Committee Vice Chair Tayyab Ikram said Aichi-Nagoya 2026 presented a wonderful opportunity to spread the message of the Asian Games.
“The fact that the different cities and different prefectures will come under one Asian Games umbrella enables us to engage the citizens – not only in Nagoya city and Aichi prefecture but in other cities. This engagement of the citizens through the Asian Games will not only be confined to one city,” he said.
Although the 20th Asian Games will be held primarily in Nagoya city and Aichi prefecture, some events will take place in other areas, such as swimming/diving and equestrian in Tokyo and cycling - track at Izu Velodrome in Shizuoka.
Summing up the two-day Coordination Committee meeting, Mr. Ikram said: “We are going in the right direction. We had very positive discussions. This meeting was about trying to understand each other’s challenges.”
The Secretary General of AINAGOC, Mr. Satoshi Murate, explained that the organising committee was setting up a timeline to move from the planning stage to implementation and finally the operational phase.
He also highlighted the need to boost momentum on the journey towards 2026, and stressed the importance of the media to help in this matter.
The 20th Asian Games will take place from September 19 to October 4, 2026, and will be the third Asian Games to be held in Japan after Tokyo 1958 and Hiroshima 1994.