ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan: The Chinese city of Hangzhou was yesterday awarded the 2022 Asian Games, organisers and state media said, in another win for China’s global sporting ambitions.
Hangzhou in eastern China –best known for the West Lake, a placid and much-painted tourist attraction – was the only candidate city, a report by the country’s official Xinhua news agency said.
Its sole candidancy made it a shoo-in for selection by the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) at its congress in the Turkmenistan capital Ashgabat.
An OCA spokesman confirmed the decision to AFP, saying the body, the Chinese Olympic Committee and Hangzhou had already signed the hosting contract at the meeting.
The award comes shortly after Beijing won the right to host the 2022 Winter Olympics, having hosted the Summer Games in 2008, and means China will host two major multi-sport events in the same year.
China staged official celebrations in July after winning the Winter Olympics bid, beating out Kazakhstan’s Almaty, despite concerns over its human rights record and Beijing’s pollution levels.
The 2008 Games marked a major step forward for China on the international stage, and analysts say its Communist authorities still use major sporting events, such as the World Athletics Championships in Beijing last month, to burnish their credentials.
Re-elected
South Korea’s Incheon held the last Asian Games in 2014, while Indonesia will play host in 2018.
But the organisation withdrew the 2017 Asian Youth Games from Sri Lanka, it said, “due to problems with the autonomy of the Sri Lanka NOC (National Olympic Committee) and the government”.
Meanwhile, Shaikh Ahmad Al Fahad Al Sabah was re-elected unopposed as president of the Olympic Council of Asia for a four-year term during yesterday’s OCA General Assembly.
Shaikh Ahmad, who was first elected as OCA President in 1991, pledged to make youth and technology the primary strategic focus of his next term.
Speaking after his election, the OCA president said, “It is a great honour to be given the opportunity to continue to serve Asia’s 45 NOCs as OCA president. Since I was first elected president it has been my objective to use sport as a vehicle to unite the Asian region and create a more harmonious future. With Asia’s huge and diverse population we have more than 4 billion opportunities to engage throughsport and over the next four years I am committed to working with each of the NOCs to realise this vast potential.
“A key part of that will be connecting with young people and harnessing new technologies to promote the Olympic movement in Asia. The marketing initiatives and partnerships the OCA has established are already adding real value, and as president I pledge to build on that momentum.”
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