The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) has confirmed that the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games (Aimag), scheduled to be held in Bangkok and Chonburi from Nov 21-30, have been cancelled.
This was announced by the Sports Authority of Thailand (SAT) Governor, Dr Gongsak Yodmani, on Monday evening.
The SAT Governor told the media that the government’s sport controlling arm had received an “urgent” email from the OCA stating that the multisport event had been cancelled.
The OCA cited the non-availability of funds to stage the Games and the shortage of time before the start of the tournament as the reasons for the cancellation of the event.
“That’s how things are at the moment, but the OCA has left the door open for Thailand to stage the same event in the future,” added Gongsak.
The OCA email arrived at a time when the SAT was having meeting to discuss the budget for the Games at its headquarters in Hua Mark on Monday evening.
A report published on the OCA website on Monday said that the Games “organising committee was unable to satisfy the criteria requested in the Host City Contract by the latest deadline of Monday, August 19, 2024 17:00 [hours] Bangkok time”.
The report added that decision was taken following the progress report presented to the 43rd OCA General Assembly in Bangkok, Thailand, on May 11, 2024 by the Aimag Organising Committee, which promised that all Games requirements will be ready by July 2024.
It was unanimously agreed during the OCA Executive Board Emergency Meeting on Thursday to cancel the event unless the organisers satisfied nine conditions needed to guarantee the hosting of the Games by Monday evening (Thai time). “The OCA had no choice but to cancel the event,” the report said.
The OCA Executive Board also unanimously agreed that if Thailand wished to host the tournament after the next edition in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in 2026, it could apply as per normal procedure to the OCA.
The sixth edition of the Games was re-scheduled to Nov 21-30 after being postponed several times due to the Covid pandemic and then a change of government in Thailand.
Claims the government was short of funds to host the Aimag were first made by Chaiyapak Siriwat, a vice-president of the National Olympic Committee of Thailand in his capacity as the head of the Aimag organising committee, last week. He had also claimed that the Thai decision to chop 14 sports three months before the Games had caused a stir in the Asian sports fraternity.