Thursday, 11 September 2014 01:18
-
- {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
The President of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) and Chairman of OCA Sports Congress, Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah has reconfirmed that Sri Lanka would be endorsed as the Host for the 2017 Asian Youth Games in the cities of Colombo and Hambantota.
A high-level delegation from Sri Lanka led by Ajith Nivard Cabraal, Joint Chairman of the Organising Committee for Asian Youth Games 2017, and consisting of Hemasiri Fernando, President, National Olympic Committee of Sri Lanka and the Deputy Chairman of the Organising Committee, Anura Jayawickrema, Secretary to the Ministry of Sports, Maxwell de Silva, Secretary General, National Olympic Committee of Sri Lanka, and Prema Pinnawala, Adviser to the President on Sports, met with Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah at the Headquarters of the OCA in Kuwait on 2 September, at which this reconfirmation was made.
At this meeting, Cabraal conveyed the commitment of President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his Government towards the organisation of these Youth Games, and in response, Sheikh Ahmad expressed his appreciation of the efforts of President Rajapaksa towards the development of sports, both in Sri Lanka and in Asia.
The logistics in relation to the organisation of the Games as well as the events to be conducted were also discussed, and it was agreed that a final decision on the specific sports and venues would be taken, immediately after the General Meeting of the OCA which is due to be held in Incheon, Korea in mid-September 2014.
Hemasiri Fernando and Anura Jayawickrema also agreed to closely follow up with individual National Sports Associations in Sri Lanka regarding the selection of training venues and other modalities, while the Venues Committee headed by Palitha Fernando, President of the Athletics Association of Sri Lanka, was to be entrusted with the task of coordinating the activities pertaining to the preparation of the sports venues, which were to be made games ready by the third quarter of 2016, so that the Asian Youth Games 2017 could be successfully conducted in August 2017.
