Previous Story
OCA invites Pacific athletes to Turkmenistan
The CNMI and other Pacific island athletes are being invited by the Olympic Council of Asia to compete in the 5th Asian Indoor and Marital Arts Games to be held in 2017 in the Central Asian nation of Turkmenistan.
White
Northern Marianas Sports Association president Mike White made the announcement in the sports group’s monthly meeting last Thursday at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium conference room.
White attended last month’s 34th OCA General Assembly in Turkmenistan held at the capital Ashgabat on Sept. 15 and 16.
“It will be a higher level of competition, a lot higher than the Pacific Games and almost like the Olympics but it will be a great experience for each federation,” said White.
The AIMAG is the first OCA-organized event that Pacific island athletes will be competing in after Asia’s governing sports body and the Oceania National Olympic Committees signed a memorandum of understanding last year allowing them to compete in future Asian Games.
OCA president Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah, ONOC president Dr. Robin Mitchell, and Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games executive committee chair Dayanch Gulgeldiyev signed the MOU.
Al-Sabah said, after the signing, that it would further increase the cooperation between Asia and Oceania while Mitchell welcomed the historic agreement that would give Oceania athletes the chance to compete against Asia’s best.
Chess, futsal, tennis, Muay Thai, the Russian martial art sambo, Turkic wrestling kurash, jiu jitsu, bowling, track cycling, swimming, indoor athletics, weightlifting (powerlifting), basketball, taekwondo, dance sport, kickboxing, belt wrestling, freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling, and cue sports (billiards and snookers) are the sports that will be offered in the 5th AIMAG.
Mixed martial arts fighters could join jiu jitsu, while the Saipan Bowling Association and the Saipan Billiards Association could also send delegates to the AIMAG.
It is not yet known if the 17 Pacific states and the seven associate members will be allowed to compete in the 2022 Asiad, which OCA is planning to move to 2023 since it coincides with the 2022 Tokyo Olympic Games.
