By Hana Al Dayyat
OCA Young Reporter
Sanya, China, April 29, 2026: The Olympic Council of Asia and Sanya Asian Beach Games Organizing Committee held their final joint press conference in the Main Press Centre on Wednesday.
The briefing brought together OCA Director General Husain Al Musallam, OCA Vice President Song Luzeng and Zou Jiaming. SABGOC Deputy Secretary General.
While the session reviewed the 6th Asian Beach Games, Captain Husain detailed the SABGOC humanitarian efforts to assist athletes trapped in conflict zones.
Describing the SABGOC intervention during the first major conflict, Capt. Husain explained the logistical nightmare faced by athletes and National Olympic Committees cut off from the outside world.
"We helped them to find a way to be assembled," he said. "The National Olympic Committees and the athletes have no access to it. So we worked with the countries they are crossing the border by land to give them easier access to pass to reach to the final airport."
He publicly thanked several nations that opened their borders, stating, "I thank countries such as Turkey and Turkmenistan and Saudi Arabia, Qatar." These nations provided critical land corridors when airports were closed or too dangerous.
Capt. Husain then confirmed the successful outcome of those efforts: "So what is important is to find for athletes a way to leave their homes to come to Sanya. This was done."
Despite bombs, closed borders and diplomatic impossibilities, the OCA had delivered on its promise to bring athletes from war nations to Sanya. He said some athletes had travelled 15 hours by bus to reach an airport so they could travel to Sanya. "I admire them," he said.
Looking ahead, he offered no false assurances of peace. "We will continue to do the same for the future," he declared. "If the conflict continues."
The conditional clause acknowledged a grim reality, yet the pledge was unambiguous: the OCA will not abandon its athletes. For some competitors, reaching the starting line in Sanya required crossing actual battlefields, and Capt. Husain made clear that the OCA will remain their lifeline for as long as war demands it.
"It is our duty and our responsibility," he added, referring to the 13 NOCs in the Middle East, especially in the Gulf region, which had been affected by the conflict.
"The Asian Beach Games in Sanya is the Peace Games."