November 11 – The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) has announced its 32nd General Assembly and the Asian Games Centennial Festival Celebrations due to be held in Boracay later this month have been postponed after the devastation caused by Typhoon Haiyan.
The category five typhoon, with ground winds of up to 235 miles per hour hit the Philippines over the weekend and there are fears that over 10,000 people have been killed while around four million people have been affected.
Haiyan, one of the most powerful storms ever recorded, is now bearing down on Vietnam and southern China with millions of people being evacuated from their homes across the south east of Asia.
Boracay, an island situated approximately 320 kilometres south of the Philippines capital Manila, was due to host the OCA General Assembly and the Asian Games Centennial Festival Celebrations from November 27 to 29.
But in a letter to its Executive Board Members and the Asian National Olympic Committees (NOCs), OCA President Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah announced the event has been cancelled.
Among those who had been due to attend the event was newly-elected International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach.
OCA President Sheikh Ahmad has written to Executive Board Members and all Asian NOCs confirming the postponement of the OCA General Assembly in Boracay
Sheikh Ahmad pledged that the OCA will support the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) in any way it can.
“The OCA stands behind its brothers and sisters in Philippines and will do its utmost to ease the sufferings of those who have been affected by this great tragedy,” Sheikh Ahmad wrote in the letter.
“Considering the scale of the tragedy, the OCA has decided to postpone the 32nd OCA General Assembly and the Asian Games Centennial Festival Celebrations to be held in Boracay from 27th to 29th of November 2013.”
The letter went on to say that new dates for the General Assembly are being discussed with mid-January 2014 a “tentative” date and the final decision will be announced in due course.
Contact the writer of this story at gary.anderson@insidethegames.biz
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