A welcome dinner is due to be hosted by the Turkmenistan National Olympic Committee (TNOC) on Tuesday (September 15), with OCA President Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah and the President of Turkmenistan, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, due to open the Assembly the following day.

Among the key issues due to be decided at the Assembly will be the appointments of the OCA President and vice-presidents, while the hosts of the 2022 or 2023 Asian Games could be decided, with the Chinese city of Hangzhou having submitted a bid.

Sheikh Ahmad is seeking to be re-elected as the OCA President and pledged to help each of the 45 Asian National Olympic Committees (NOCs) to achieve their potential.

“The General Assembly is a very important meeting in our annual calendar as it gives us the opportunity to bring all our NOCs together, update them on our progress and identify the areas we can improve the support we provide them,” he said.

“If the NOCs give me the honour of being re-elected as President of the OCA I will continue to work with each and every one of them to empower them to realise their full potential.”

Following the election of the OCA President and the vice-presidents of the five OCA zones, they will serve four-year terms from 2015 to 2019.

In addition, the chairpersons of 12 OCA Committees will be elected while a further five are set to be appointed by the President, in line with the OCA’s constitution.

Each of the Committees are dedicated to improving all areas of sport in Asia and have been established to constantly seek to improve the support they provide to their NOCs.

“At the OCA we are committed to using sport as a vehicle to unite and empower Asia’s 4.4 billion people to create a more equal and harmonious future,” Sheikh Ahmad said.

“Asia is the world’s largest and most diverse continent but our love of sport is a commonality which unites us.

“We have made excellent progress in promoting sport and Olympism throughout Asia but there is always more we can do.”

The Assembly will also see the OCA vice-presidents deliver updates from their respective zones while progress reports will be given by organisers of the Da Nang 2016 Asian Beach Games, Sapporo 2017 Asian Winer Games and the Jakarta Asian Games in 2018.

A replacement for Sri Lanka to host the 2017 Asian Youth Games, as well as the composition of sports appearing at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta, are also likely to appear on the agenda of the Assembly.

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