(ATR) The President of the Olympic Council of Asia, Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah, hails the success of the first OCA Sport Congress in Kuwait.
At the closing ceremony of the three-day congress in Kuwait City Saturday, Ahmad said the Olympic convention would aid the vision and strategy of the OCA in the coming decade.
Calling for feedback from convention delegates, Ahmad said: “I am confident that through this cooperation and dialogue we can find many benefits to the OCA and to the sports movement.”
He thanked the 130 speakers who participated in a series of workshops, covering the six themes of the conference: sports science in Asia; governance of sports in Asia; women's sports in Asia; sports marketing in Asia; Asian Games; and sports and the environment.
“They have added value for our organization and movement,” he said. The congress resolutions will be passed to the IOC ahead of the 121st IOC Session and 13th IOC Congress in Copenhagen, Denmark, in October.
Ahmad indicated that efforts would now focus on running the OCA's Sports Academy in its new OCA headquarters at Olympia in the Kuwaiti capital.
IOC President Jacques Rogge praised Ahmad's leadership of the OCA after participating in the opening ceremony and presenting a keynote speech at the conference. He said the issues discussed at the inaugural congress would help in promoting and raising the standards of sport in Asia.
“OCA has a great leader in Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah and due to his hard work and commitment sport has got a new identity in Asia,” he told a news conference, noting the continent's emergence as a new power in Olympic sports evidenced in the increasing numbers of Asian athletes winning medals at the Beijing Games and Athens 2004.
Asked about the threat of terror attacks on sports events, Rogge admitted it was a big challenge and emphasized the need to launch collective efforts to thwart incidents of terrorism. He encouraged sports bodies to unite against the threat “to show the outer world that sports can help in overcoming such incidents in future.”
His comments came in the wake of a gun attack on a bus of Sri Lankan cricketers in Lahore, Pakistan a week earlier.
Rogge also paid tribute to the OCA's focus on developing youth sports ahead of the first Summer Youth Olympic Games taking place in Singapore in August next year, saying it would be greatly beneficial “for creating a healthy youth ensuring a better tomorrow of sports in Asia.”
Congress organizers also received praise from one of Asia's leading sports administrators.
Peter Velappan, secretary general of the Asian Football Confederation from 1978 to 2007, said the new Olympia headquarters was “a magnificent building." He said the conference was “the first step to raise the level of Asian sport for the Asian Games, Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games and everything.”
More than 750 delegates from throughout the Olympic Movement attended the congress, staged under the slogan “Asia Together." They included IOC Executive Board members, representatives of the OCA's 45 national Olympic Committees, regional and international sports federations.
Exhibitions and promotions for the OCA's upcoming regional sports events were also a key part of the congress. Kiosks were set up in the lobby of the Arraya Ballroom of the Courtyard Marriott Hotel where the conference took place.
The first Asian Martial Arts Games in Bangkok will run from April 25 to May 3, under the slogan of “The Games of Spirit, The Land of Smiles” and includes nine sports.
This is followed by the first Asian Youth Games in Singapore from June 29 to July 7, featuring more than 80 events in nine sports for about 1,100 athletes aged between 14 and 17. “Asia's Youth, Our Future” is the slogan.
The mascot and theme song are scheduled to be announced March 19. Singapore's sports leaders are using the Games as a dress rehearsal for next year's Youth Olympic Games.
The third major OCA event this year is the 3rd Asian Indoor Games in Vietnam, Oct. 30 to Nov. 8.
Next year brings the 16th Asian Games in Guangzhou, China, in November, which is staged shortly before the second Asian Beach Games in Muscat, Oman. Both these events reportedly attracted a large number of visitors to their exhibition stands at the OCA Sport Congress.
With reporting from Mark Bisson.
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