No Indian city in race for hosting 2019 Asian Games

Mumbai: No Indian city is in the race for hosting the 2019 Asian Games despite past claims by the IOA and Dubai, Hanoi, and Surabaya (Indonesia) have emerged as frontrunners.

The Olympic Council of Asia is to send an Evaluation Committee next week to these three cities bidding to host the continental sports extravaganza. The 31st OCA General Assembly is to meet in Macau, China, on November 8 and vote for the host city for the 18th Asian Games in 2019, said OCA in a media release. Led by OCA vice president Lt Gen (Retd) Syed Arif Hasan, president of the Pakistan Olympic Association, the OCA`s three-member Asian Games Evaluation Committee will visit the three countries from October 1-9, the OCA said. OCA vice president for South Asia, Hasan, will be joined on the tour by Vinod Tiwari, the director, International and NOC Relations, OCA, and by Mohammad Tayyab Ikram (Macau), a member of the OCA Coordination Committee and OCA Athletes Committee. The Evaluation Committee members will visit the three cities and meet with government officials, the National Olympic Committee and city representatives. They will also tour the venues to assess the capabilities of each candidates, the release added. United Arab Emirates and Vietman have not hosted any Asian Games in the past while Indonesian capital Jakarta hosted the 1962 Games. The next Asian Games, the 17th one, are due in Incheon, South Korea from September 19 to October 4, 2014. The 16th Games were held in Guangzhou, China, in 2010. PTI