President of the National Olympic Committee of Thailand, Gen Prawit Wongsuwon, confirmed Thailand will host the sixth Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games (Aimag) in November.
In an urgent letter to the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA), Prawit confirmed that the Games will go ahead as planned and will feature a total of 38 sports.
The move came after the OCA was due to hold a meeting yesterday afternoon to rule on the fate of Thailand's right to host the tournament as a rift had emerged between the body and Thai officials following the decision to drop 14 sports from the programme only three months before the Games.
Thailand is scheduled to organise the Covid-delayed tournament from Nov 21-30 in Bangkok and Chon Buri. The Games will offer a total of 364 gold medals in 38 sports.
"We no longer want to wait on the government to make a decision. Gen Prawit Wongsuwon, president of the the National Olympic Committee of Thailand, has now stepped up and confirmed that the tournament will go ahead in November and there will be 38 sports as planned," said Chaiyapak Siriwat, a vice-president of the OCA.
"There will be a meeting next Monday for all parties concerned and we will have an answer for the OCA," added Chaiyapak, who is also the head of the Games organising committee, during a meeting with an OCA official and representatives from some of the sport associations that had been cut from the Games including swimming, billiards, netball, rowing, hockey, weightlifting, volleyball, fencing, badminton and cheerleading.