Moving the Asian Games to odd years will give athletes a “clear path” to qualify for the Olympics, Hong Kong’s sports chief said on Wednesday.
The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) has approved moving the quarterly regional multi-sport event to a year before its international cousin, starting with the 2031 edition in Doha.
If approved by the council’s executive board last weekend, governing body vice-president Song Luzeng said it would allow the Games to serve as an Olympic qualifying event, providing “many elite athletes with important competition opportunities and raising the overall level of the Games”.
Qualifying is currently managed by international federations and Song said the OCA was in the final stages of discussions with some of them on the new plan.
Changing years could mean a rare five-year gap between the Games in Japan this September, and the next event in Qatar, but Kenneth Fok, vice-president of the Sports Federation and Olympic Committee of Hong Kong, China (SF&OC), said that was of little concern.
“The real long-term significance is the move to an odd-year schedule and the intention to use the Asian Games as a qualifying event for the Olympics,” he said.
