Bangkok, Thailand, December 6, 2024: The Olympic Council of Asia outlined the steps it is taking to tackle the threat of match-fixing and the prevention of the manipulation of competition (PMC) at OCA Games.
On the first morning of the two-day OCA PMC Workshop at the Intercontinental Hotel in Bangkok on Friday, the OCA’s Athletes Department Manager, Mr. Jamyang Namgyal, said the OCA was at the forefront of confronting this issue within the Olympic movement.
He explained that the OCA signed the PMC Framework of the IOC in 2021, one of the first continental associations do so, and that measures were already in place to assist National Olympic Committees and Asian Games organising committees.
The first point concerned raising awareness and this was achieved by hosting webinars and workshops and also by establishing booths and kiosks at the Athletes Village of Asian Games.
The OCA has also prioritized PMC as one of the four pillars of the “Guarding the Asian Games” initiative and delivers presentations at OCA activities, for example in Kuala Lumpur last week for the OCA Development Programme for Coaches and Referees from Southeast Asia and East Asia in the four sports of archery, badminton, swimming and table tennis.
The OCA also feels it is important to present this topic in the build-up to an Asian Games to create awareness among athletes and officials.
The OCA has also established a reporting system by which athletes, coaches and anyone connected to the Games can report a suspicious result or trend during a sports event.
Workshop delegates were given an update on the sports betting landscape in Asia by Tan You Chen from the Sportradar monitoring agency. He said that 1.46 trillion Euro was bet on sports games globally in 2023, with Asia way ahead of the other continents with 946 billion Euro.
Football accounted for 49 per cent of bets, with basketball, tennis, e-sports and cricket completing the top five. Most bets are made live during games.
The OCA PMC Workshop is being held in collaboration with the IOC and Interpol, with input from basketball’s world governing body FIBA. Delegates from 43 Asian National Olympic Committees are attending, along with law enforcement agencies and government ministries.
