Sunday, September 24 2017 17:38

ArmInfo. Honorary Vice-President of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA), Wei Jizhong spoke about the peculiarities of the V Asian Games in Indoors and in  the Martial Arts "Ashgabat - 2017".

"First of all, I participated in ten Olympic Games and nine Asiads  and I can say with certainty that for the first time games are held  under the successful leadership of the head of state, Turkmen  President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov. I am particularly pleased to say  that he not only loves sports, but he is also very knowledgeable  about sports and has excellent management knowledge in this area, he  was directly involved in the organization of this event, made  proposals and adjustments.  Secondly, all the problems that, for one  reason or another, arose, were eliminated. Today at the morning  meeting it was stated that there were no problems that could not be  solved, all the issues that had arisen had a logical solution, and  everyone was satisfied with the activities within the games. Thirdly,  these games are unique in their kind, all the buildings in the  complex are centrally located, in step-by-step availability, and for  convenience, Montreal and buses run. This project is a highly  organized event, "Wei Dzhizhong said on September 24 at the fields of  games in Ashgabat. 

In turn, the director of organizational committee Jen Tomlin noted  that in the Asian Games more than 8,000 volunteers are involved, 31%  of whom are women. "More than 400 international specialists from  different fields worked here, they shared their knowledge and skills,  we hope that this knowledge will be adopted and in the future the  Turkmen people will use them. Our volunteers, as we call them, the  "first stars", have done a great job. To date, they have handed over  120,000 shifts and are fulfilling their mission, "she said,  expressing gratitude to the President of Turkmenistan and the entire  Turkmen people for their warm welcome and hospitality.

She also expressed the hope that the experience that Turkmenistan  will receive from these games, it will be used for the benefit of the  people in the future. Meanwhile, the head of the National Committee  of Turkmenistan Azat Muradov noted that Turkmen athletes are worthy  and successful at these games. "We have reached the set goals,  tomorrow all these sportsmen will become heroes and pride of the  Turkmen people. We have achieved what we aspired to. These games will  serve as an example for our citizens and will be a good incentive  from the point of view of sports development in the country. We  managed to achieve all this thanks to our president, "Muradov  concluded. It should be noted that on September 17, the Asian Games  started in the capital of Turkmenistan, which will last until  September 27. Asiada-2017 is held in the Olympic town, an area of 157  hectares and includes more than 30 unique objects. For the  convenience of moving across the vast territory of the complex, a  monorail road operates that connects the sports town, designed for  12,000 inhabitants, to its other facilities. As part of the  Asiada-2017 program, competitions will be held in such sports as  chess, futsal, tennis, Muay Thai (Thai boxing), sambo, kurash,  jujits, bowling, cycling on the track, swimming in the 50-meter pool,  light and heavy athletics, basketball, taekwondo (WTF), sports  dances, kickboxing, belt wrestling, wrestling (Greco-Roman and  freestyle), billiards, competitions and national Turkmen wrestling.  For the first time in the games involved countries of Oceania, as  well as a team of refugees. 

A total of 64 countries participate in the games, including  Australia, American Samoa, Bangladesh, Bahrain, Vanuatu, East Timor,  Vietnam, Hong Kong, Guam, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Iraq,  Afghanistan, Iran, Yemen, Cambodia, Kiribati, China , Korea, Laos,  Lebanon, Tonga, Tuvalu, Syria, Japan. The first similar Games took  place in 2005 in Bangkok (Thailand), the second - in 2007 in Macau,  the third - in 2009 in Vietnam. Since the IV Asian Games in closed  rooms, they began to be held every four years and with the addition  of a martial arts competition program. The fourth Asiad was held in  2013 in the Korean city of Incheon. The decision to hold the V Asian  Games in indoor and martial arts in Ashgabat in 2017 was taken in  2010 in the capital of Kuwait, where the headquarters of the Olympic  Council of Asia (OCA), uniting 45 countries in its ranks. The next  Asian Games will be held in 2020 in Japan.