Harbin, China, February 6, 2025: The Olympic Council of Asia’s 93rd Executive Board meeting took place at the Shangri-La Harbin on Thursday – on the eve of the opening ceremony of the 9th Asian Winter Games.
In opening the meeting, OCA Vice President Timothy Fok thanked Harbin for their preparations for the Asian Winter Games, which will run from February 7-14.
“Considering the organising committee was established as recently as January 10, 2024, they have done a truly remarkable job in providing the best environment for our athletes and the spectators,” he said.
“I think we can all look forward to an exciting and action-packed Asian Winter Games over the next few days.”
The Vice Mayor of Harbin, Ms. Zhang Haihua, said Harbin was not only known as the “Capital of Ice and Snow” but also the “City of Olympic Champions”, and the Asian Winter Games would display “Chinese character and Asian glamour”.
The agenda included:
*Progress report on the 20th Asian Games Aichi-Nagoya, Japan 2026, during which accommodation, transportation, the sports programme and broadcasting were discussed.
*The logo of the 10th Asian Winter Games in Saudi Arabia was approved. The logo is based on the letter “A” and entitled “Neom 2029 Asian Winter Games”.
* The OCA General Assembly 2025 was finalised for Kuwait – home and HQ of the OCA – for May 11-12, with a cultural performance from all five zones on the first day and the meeting on the second day.
The OCA EB also approved the following items related to the 9th Asian Winter Games:
*To allow alpine skier Chencho Dorji from Bhutan to participate, despite an issue with his license. Bhutan’s only athlete in the AWG will not be provided with a medal or FIS points.
*The women’s aerial synchro event included three NOCs initially – China, Japan and Kazakhstan. However, the two athletes from Japan have withdrawn, leaving only China and Kazakhstan. With six athletes from these two NOCs, a working group consisting of OCA and HAWGOC delegates recommended that the competition should still go ahead. The EB approved this recommendation.
*The women’s freestyle halfpipe had three NOCs participating – China, Korea and the Philippines. The Philippines athlete withdrew, leaving two NOCs with six athletes. The EB approved the working group’s recommendation that the event should continue.
*Afghan free ski athlete Ahmed Mushtaba Habibzi, who trains in Canada and has taken asylum in Canada, was entered with a Canadian passport. On Thursday, he obtained his Afghanistan passport and the working group recommended he be allowed to change his accreditation and participate as an Afghan national. The EB approved.
