Kuwait City, Kuwait, May 22, 2020: The Olympic Council of Asia has announced the dates and the sports programme for the sixth Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games (AIMAG) in Thailand next year.
In a letter from the OCA Director General, Husain Al-Musallam, to the National Olympic Committee of Thailand, the dates have been confirmed as May 21-30, 2021. The games will be held in two cities: Bangkok and Pattaya, Chonburi province.
The two parties held a virtual host city contract signing ceremony on April 23 in Kuwait and Bangkok but the dates and final sports programme had still to be decided.
Mr. Al-Musallam said: “We are delighted to confirm the dates with the local organising committee and the National Olympic Committee of Thailand so quickly after signing the host city contract.
“We appreciate that 2021 is a busy year because of the new dates for the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Tokyo but we have managed to find a slot in the last week of May that is still two months before the Olympics.
“We would like to thank the Royal Thai Government, the NOC of Thailand and the people of Thailand for always making the OCA feel so welcome in their country.
“We have held many OCA events in Thailand over the past decades and, with this experience and expertise, we are confident the 6th Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games 2021 will be a great success.”
There are 28 medal sports on the programme plus two demonstration sports, one of them being the rapidly-growing teqball.
Played on a curved table tennis-sized table and testing football skills such as ball control and heading over a net, teqball became an official OCA sport at the General Assembly in Jakarta, Indonesia in 2018. Teqball will make its debut at the OCA’s 6th Asian Beach Games in Sanya, China from November 28 to December 6, 2020.
The 28 sports for AIMAG 6 are: Indoor Athletics, Cue Sports, Bowling, Dance Sport, Chess, Futsal (Men and Women), Roller Sports/Sport Climbing, Short Course Swimming (25m), Muay, Jujitsu, BMX Cycling, Hoop Takraw/Speak Takraw, Kurash, Floorball, Netball, Taekwondo, Indoor Hockey, Karate, E-Sport, Badminton, Pencak Silat, Cheer Leading, Sambo, Indoor Rowing, Indoor Volleyball (Men and Women), Basketball 3x3 (Men and Women), Traditional Wrestling, Kickboxing.
The two demonstration sports are: Teqball, Air Sport (Indoor Drone)
The AIMAG is an amalgamation of two former OCA multi-sport events, the Asian Indoor Games and Asian Martial Arts Games, which merged in 2013 to form the AIMAG.
Previous host cities:
Asian Indoor Games: 2005, Bangkok, Thailand; 2007, Macau, China; 2009, Hanoi, Vietnam.
Asian Martial Arts Games: 2009, Bangkok, Thailand.
Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games: 2013, Incheon, Korea; 2017, Ashgabat, Turkmenistan.