Bangkok, Thailand, March 6, 2024: The Chair of the OCA Culture Committee, Khunying Patama Leeswadtrakul, highlighted the close relationship between sport and culture during an online meeting of the committee on Wednesday, March 6.
The IOC Member from Thailand provided details of all the art and cultural events attached to the OCA’s Asian Games in Hangzhou, China last September and October and the recent Winter Youth Olympic Games Gangwon 2024.
“Since our last meeting on July 1, 2023, there have been so many important events organised with a combination of sport and culture which may give us inspiration for the future,” said Khunying Patama.
These included the official opening of the Hangzhou Asian Games Museum, China House in Hangzhou, the Hangzhou Olympic Expo 2023, the Beijing Olympic Museum celebrating the hosting of the Olympic Games in 2008 and Winter Olympics in 2022, as well as the OCA’s One Asia show marking 110 years of the Asian Games going back to Manila 1913 and the first Far Eastern Championship Games.
Khunying Patama noted the strong support of Chinese President Xi Jinping and Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yeol in making these sports and cultural events a big success.
OCA Deputy Director General Vinod Kumar Tiwari updated the Culture Committee members on OCA activities, including coordination committee meetings for the Asian Winter Games in Harbin, China in February 2025, the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games 2026 and the 6th Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games in Thailand this November.
He also said the Olympic Solidarity/OCA Regional Forum has been confirmed for Kuala Lumpur from May 3-4 and Bahrain from May 6-7 when the agenda would include the Paris Olympics, AIMAG 6, the 9th AWG in Harbin and the 2026 Asian Games.
The OCA was planning to hold the General Assembly in Delhi on April 14 but this will be moved to a different city, probably Bangkok, in May due to elections in India, Tiwari said. An official announcement is expected in a couple of days, he added.
With the Asian Winter Games in Harbin next February and the Asian Youth Games in Tashkent, Uzbekistan in July/August 2025, the OCA will have a busy time ahead of the next Asian Games in Japan in September 2026.
Committee member Francis Wanandi of Indonesia reviewed the One Asia 110-years celebration held in Hangzhou last September 24 and said the One Asia brand was planning to expand its activities. There will be a One Asia event running alongside AIMAG 6 in Thailand this November.