HANGZHOU READY TO ROLL FOR 19TH ASIAN GAMES
By Tony Mariadass
It was the probably the best decision to postpone the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou on May 6 last year by the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) of the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou on May 6 last year, to move the Games by one year from the original dates of September 10-25,2022 to Sept 25 to October this year due to the COVID pandemic.
As Captain Hussain Al-Musallam, the Director General of OCA said in his speech at the Second World Press Briefing/ World Broadcasters Meeting in Hangzhou in China last week,: “It was the most difficult decision in the history of OCA and it was made with full support of Hangzhou Asian Games Organising Committee (HAGOC) and the Chinese Olympic Committee.
“Looking back, we believe it was the correct decision. Looking forward, we now have a free and open 19th Asian Games with the athletes, National Committees, spectators and media can truly embrace and create a spirit of friendship and unity,” said Hussain said in his read speech.
Indeed, it was a difficult decision, but the Hangzhou Asian Games will forever go down in history as an unique Games and probably the best prepared Games.
“OCA is very proud of our Asian Games – and the Hangzhou postponement is another example of everyone working together in order to guarantee the best conditions and environment for all concerned, notably our athletes.”
Without doubt the postponement was a major test and burden to HAGOC, as all facilities were ready even before the announcement of the postponement.
But Kudos to HAGOC, they have maintained all the facilities spick and span for most two years now to welcome the Asian family to the Games in two months time.
It was indeed an humongous task for HAGOC to maintain and manage the facilities but with the resilience, dedication, commitment and passion, they have come out with flying colours
.It was the first time in the history of the Games that the people of the host nation got to use the competition facilities before the athletes for the Games.
HAGOC had opened the doors for booking of the facilities and in some cases allowed to use the facilities for free.
During the recent Second World Press Briefing/ World Broadcasters Meeting and the tour of facilities, it was evident that HAGOC have done an excellent job to maintain the facilities and if a decision was taken to host the Games next week, everything was ready to go!
From airport arrival facilitation which included special lanes for immigration, baggage arrivals at the carousels and custom clearance is all in place including at arrival pointless besides Hangzhou, which included Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Urumqi Diwopu International Airports, is all in place and ready to be activated.
The media who came for the briefing had first hand experience of the services.
The overlays (signages) are all in place and from the airport the Asian Games atmosphere is alive and hits one in the faces.
The briefing was thorough and went through all details with a fine comb headed by host Xu Jianfeng, the deputy Director of the International Relations Department of HAGOC.
Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang Province, one of the central cities in China’s southeast coast. About 170 kilometres from Shanghai, it covers an area of 16,600 square kilometres with a permanent population of 11.94 million people.
Hangzhou is a city of innovation and Vitality E-commerce is booming in Hangzhou, where a click of the mouse connects the world. Hangzhou hosts the headquarters of world renowed enterprises such as Alibaba, Wanxianbg, Wahaha and Hikvision. It is China’s fist cross-border e-commerce comprehensive pilot zone, gathering more than one-third of China’s e-commerce comprehensive enterprises.
Thus, it is not surprise that the slogan for the 19th Asian Games has tech elements as it reads: Heart to Heart, @Future.
The Games has the perfect branding, identity and look of the Games which is all modern.
Everything is in place from the competition and training venues, press operations and facilities, arrival and departure facilities, transport and logistics, catering and accommodation, the Asian Games Village for Athletes, Technical officials and Media and IT services.
On top of that, official hotels and medical services are also in place.
This will be the third time China will be hosting the Asian Games after Beijing (1990) and Guangzhou (2010). China have also hosted the Beijing Summer Olympics in 2008 and the Winter Olympics in 2022.
At the two-day 2nd WPB at Hangzhou International Expo Center top officials were present to give first hand information on the Games to the print and broadcast media.
Senior officials from OCA and China’s national, provincial and municipal governments, major media organizations and key institutions, including Mr. Jian Zhou, Director of Media & Broadcast Department of OCA, Mr. Chen Weiqiang, Deputy Secretary General of HAGOC and Vice Mayor of Hangzhou, Mrs. Xu Jing, Deputy Director General of the Press and Publicity Department of the General Administration of Sport of China, Mrs. Fan Qingyu, Deputy Chief of the Publicity Department of the CPC Zhejiang Provincial Committee were present.
Attending the 2nd WPB were more than 80 agencies in China and oversea, including nearly 200 participants in person and other hundreds on line from across the Asia.
Following the report from HAGOC, up to now, there are 12,000 athletes, 5,000 officials, 4,700 technical officials and 12,000 media who will attend the 19th Asian Games – Hangzhou 2022.
HAGOC has recruited about 50,000 volunteers to serve for the event. Marketing activities got a good achievement when they have signed up 178 sponsors and have secured about 4,615 billion RMB (around 65 millions USD).
During the meeting, participants also toured Asian Games venues including Hangzhou Binjiang Gymnasium, Media Village and International Expo Centre (as MMC), particularly media facilities at the competition venues and accommodation in the Media Village.
The Media Village located alongside the Qiantang River on a built up area of 660,000 square metres has a total of 31 buildings with 2,551 apartments to accommodate 5,000 accredited media professionals an rights-holding broadcasters.
The Main Media Centre (MMC) is located at the Hangzhou International Expo Centre which consists of the Main Press Centre (MPC) and the International Broadcast Centre (IBC), the Host Broadcaster Operations Centre (HB), the Life area, and the Commercial services area. It is also equipped with transport facilities sitting on a 34,000 square metres area.
The Athletes Village has 37 towers which has 2,696 apartments and 10,400 beds.
There is also a Technical Officials Village all in the same vicinity as the Media and Athletes Village.
Probably, Chairman of OCA Media Committee, Charles Loo best summed it up when he said in his speech read by Jeans Zhou Jian, OCA Director of Media and Broadcast Department,: “ We are in safe hands in China and can expect a memorable Games.”
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