Tashkent, Uzbekistan, October 15, 2024: Members of the OCA Coordination Committee for the 3rd Asian Youth Games Tashkent 2025 were given a preview of the sports programme on the first day of the CC meeting at the Hyatt Regency on Tuesday.
Organising committee TAYGOC said there would be 24 sports, 33 disciplines and 279 events, with 315 sets of medals presented during the 3rd AYG, which will run from September 7-17, 2025.
While most of the sports were familiar to the visiting delegates, one of them in particular – hand-to-hand – needed clarification. Delegates were told that hand-to-hand was a popular sport in Uzbekistan and the Central Asia region, a martial arts sport and a contact sport.
It is a mix of karate and boxing, similar to mixed martial arts, and between 20 and 25 National Olympic Committees are expected to enter hand-to-hand.
Hand-to-hand will take place at the CAEx (Central Asian Expo Centre) along with kurash, belbogli kurash (belt wrestling) and sambo.
One of the most popular sports at the AYG will surely be boxing, which will take place at the 12,000-capacity Humo Arena. There will be 13 men’s events and 12 women’s events on the initial programme and Uzbekistan will be looking to unearth more future Olympic Games champions.
At Paris 2024, Uzbekistan finished 13th in the overall medal standings with eight gold medals, two silver and three bronze for 13 total medals. Five of those eight gold medals were won in men’s boxing, with the other gold coming in judo, taekwondo and wrestling.
The meeting heard that there will be 18 competition venues in four clusters, including the new Olympic City and also at Silk Road Samarkand, which will host triathlon, rowing and canoe-kayak. The Samarkand Rowing Canal sports programme will involve 600 athletes and officials.
Organisers are planning to receive 6,000 athletes and team officials from the 45 National Olympic Committees, along with 500 members of the OCA family, 350 press and media, 1,100 International Technical Officials National Technical Officials and 8,000 volunteers.
The age limit for the AYG will be from 14 to 17 years, with the ages in line with the limit for the Youth Olympic Games in Dakar, Senegal in 2026. This will ensure that all athletes at the AYG will be eligible to qualify for the sports on the YOG programme the following year.
Delegates will visit the Olympic City on Wednesday, with the complex including a 12,000-capacity main stadium for the AYG opening ceremony and athletics, an aquatics palace, velodrome, team sports hall and martial arts venue.
Futsal will be held in only one stadium, while football will have three venues.
The first day of the two-day CC meeting also included presentations on transportation, accreditation, IT and broadcasting, marketing and key dates, with the Chefs de Mission Seminar set for April 17-18, 2025.
Summing up the first day, OCA CC Chair Mohammad Tayyab Ikram said: “It was the first Coordination Committee meeting but it does not look like the first, so that is already a good step forward. We will work together and make these games a success together.”