Asiad Sports Centennial
By Eddie Alinea
PhilBoxing.com
Fri, 08 Mar 2013
MANILA (PNA) -- Members of the Olympic Council of Asia will go back in time 100 years ago to the origin of what is now known as the Asian Games. The Philippines is hosting the Asiad Centennial Festival November 26-29 in the world famous Boracay Island, home of the world?s most beautiful beaches.
Kuwait?s Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah, OCA president, yesterday said highlight of the festivities is the general assembly meeting where representatives of the 45-strong member countries will retrace the humble beginning of the Asian Games in 1913, the growth sports has undergone and future plans in regards to further developing Asian sports.
The Asian Games was historically began with the staging of the three-nation first Far Eastern Olympic Games in February 1913 in Manila participated by the finest athletes from Japan, China and the Philippines.
His Highness, answering a query from a local media man, likewise, asserted OCA?s hands-off stance in regards to the Southeast Asian Games Federation?s decision to add more medal-rich indigenous sports in this year?s edition of the biennial conclave this December in Myanmar.
The Sheik, who is in handball and shooting and also currently the head of his country?s Olympic Committee and the powerful 205-member Association of National Olympic Committees, clarified though that the General Assembly will just be as brief as possible so the some 1,500 attendees enjoy the other highlights of the festival as well as the world-renown Filipino hospitality.
?We will make the General Assembly as short as possible so we can enjoy your beautiful country and the hospitality of your people,? Al-Sabah said. ?The festival, the first of its kind held here, will take more of a regular convention that is hoped to serve as a statement to the world that Asia has now emerged as a powerhouse in the realm of sports.
There has been no other event in the history of Philippine sports that had been attended by delegates and world leaders representing 204 countries.
Philippine Olympic Committee president Jose ?Peping Cojuangco, for his part said, agreed saying the four-day affair is designed to be a festivity showcasing the growth of sports in this part of the world.
Among those present in the launching are chair of the Centennial Festival, Robert ?Dodot? Jaworski Jr. and equestrienne wife Mikee Cojuangco-Jaworski, presidents and officials of the different national sports associations, PSC commissioners Iggy Clavecilla and Akiko Thomson and executive director Guillermo Iroy.
?The Boracay affair, as the word connotes, will just be a culmination of what is designed as a monthly or, perhaps weekly sports festival to be held in Manila and other parts of the archipelago prior to the General Assembly,? Cojuangco averred.
Philippine Sports Commission chair Richie Garcia, on the other hand, said that the affair is not only an event of the POC, PSC and OCA but of the entire nation that needs the cooperation of every Filipino.
?As for the PSC, we are pledging our all out support to the project, in terms of manpower, finances and organization,? Garcia assured.
Commenting on the addition and subtraction of events in the SEA Games, Al-Sabah, said OCA and the SEA games Federation are two different organizations and that no one has influence over the other.
?Early today, I was informed that in the next SEA Games, there are about 60 new events not known by the Olympic movement, Chess, for example, has 14 events, he recalled. ?I was very surprised, but then they are a different organization.?
He added that since the events to be disputed have already approved, there is nothing that could be done anymore, although he vowed that the OCA can play a role in talking with the Asian Federations and the International Federations to try to maximize the event in the Olympic program.
?But for now it is too late, with just nine months for the Games,? he said. ?We give the host chance to choose their own local events but not 10 percent of the size of the Games.?
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Eddie Alinea.
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