The government has moved to distance itself from the Olympic Council of Asia's decision to cancel the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games scheduled for Bangkok and Chon Buri in November.
The council cited the lack of a firm funding commitment in its announcement it was withdrawing Bangkok's right to host the games. It also pointed to the absence of competitors in 14 of the 38 categories.
Jirawat Arunyakanon, the ruling Pheu Thai Party's adviser to Tourism and Sports Minister Sermsak Pongpanich, on Tuesday said on the party's Facebook page that the minister had no intention of cancelling the games, scheduled to be held in Bangkok and Chon Buri from Nov 21-30.
The minister had only sought a review of the remaining 1.3-billion-baht budget for the event, because the types of sports and the number of competitors were reduced.
“It was not postponed and would have proceeded, except for a review of the national budget funding, over 1 billion baht, for the sake of transparency… The minister took time to consider if the budget for the games would be spent efficiently,” Mr Jirawat said.
According to Mr Jirawat, the total budget was set at 2.29 billion baht, with competition in 38 sports and the participation of about 14,000 athletes. However, the Olympic Council of Asia informed the minister that as of last Saturday only 1,938 athletes had registered in 24 sports.
The country could have hosted the event, but the minister wanted to ensure the taxpayers’ money would be spent efficiently, Mr Jirawat said.
He said that 800-900 million baht had been disbursed from the 2.29-billion-baht budget and sports minister Sermsak had asked the National Anti-Corruption Commission and the State Audit Office to examine the previous disbursement.
The minister wanted to know if the money had really been spent on athletes’ training, Mr Jirawat said.