As the world watched last week’s historic summit between the leaders of South and North Korea in awe, the region’s sporting fraternity celebrated Pyongyong’s staging of the Asian Games Fun run on Tuesday.
The hermit state held the fun run for first time since its inception in 2006, setting the perfect pitch ahead of the Olympic Solidarity/Olympic Council of Asia’s Regional Forum in Phnom Penh on May 6 and 7 at the Sokha Hotel.
North Korean weightlifting Olympic champions Om Yun-chol and Rim Jong-sim were among the around 200 runners to feature in the OCA-organised event, inspiring some of Cambodia’s decorated athletes to join the 3k and 5k Phnom Penh run on Sunday morning, which is expected to draw at least 1,000 participants.
As many as 110 delegates from 26 countries have already confirmed their participation at the forum which also serves the dual purpose of holding the Asian Games pre-delegate registration meeting for National Olympic Committees from South, Southeast and East Asia.
The forum has lined up several notable presentations, ranging from the preparations for the Tokyo 2020 Summer Games to the International Olympic Committee’s reforms in policy and procedure.
A Youth Olympics case study will be presented by Prof BLH Perera, a Social Sciences faculty member from the University of Kelania in Sri Lanka.
Japan’s Global Initiatives will be highlighted by Dr Zubaidullo Ubaidulloev, from the Faculty of Health and Sports Sciences, University of Tsukuba in Japan.
While the Tokyo Olympics, IOC and Olympic Solidarity initiatives form the major portion of the opening day’s agenda, updates from the 18th Asian Games Organizing Committee tops the second day, deliberations which also include a presentation by the Children of Asia Games International Committee.
