Thai Olympics confirms OCA will not ban Thailand from competing in the 2026 Asian Games and 2025 SEA Games after withdrawing Thailand's right to host the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games. The National Olympic Committee of Thailand has issued a statement regarding the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) revoking Thailand's right to organize the 6th Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games, scheduled for November 21-30. The gist is that with less than 3 months left, the organizing committee still cannot proceed with the conditions set by the OCA in 9 areas, including the budget that has evidence of availability, contracts for payment for renting various competition venues, deposits for hotel accommodations, payment for various transportation systems, operations regarding banned substances, hiring volunteers, hiring a company responsible for the IT system, purchasing equipment, and improving the competition venues. However, on the scheduled date of 19 August 2024, the organizing committee did not hold a meeting and no documents were presented to the Olympic Council of Asia, resulting in the cancellation of the rights. However, regarding other impacts related to Thai national athletes in sending them to participate in other sporting events such as the 20th Asian Games in Nagoya, Japan in 2026 or Thailand hosting the 33rd SEA Games in 2025, the OCA stated that this matter will not affect sending athletes to participate in the competition in any way because the senders are the Olympic Committees of each country and can participate in the competition. As for hosting the SEA Games, it is the authority of the SEA Games Federation and is not related to the OCA games. The latest at noon, Mr. Sermsak Pongpanich, Minister of Tourism and Sports, along with Dr. Kongsak Yodmanee, Governor of the Sports Authority of Thailand, held a press conference to clarify the issue of Thailand being disqualified this time, stating that the 6th Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games has been postponed since 2021, and a budget of 800-900 million ba ht has been disbursed for training camp expenses, competition preparation, and IT information systems. They also clarified the reduction of 14 sports from 38 sports, which was decided by the OCA, not the ministry. At first, more than 14,000 athletes were confirmed to come, but in the end, only 1,983 athletes from 24 sports participated. We signed a letter confirming our hosting with the OCA on July 30 and have confirmed that we will be hosting the competition all along. We admit that it is a pity that we were not the host. In addition, the Minister of Tourism and Sports said that from now on, there will be a meeting to discuss soon to help and take care of athletes who have been training in 38 sports for the past 4 years to the best of their ability. Source: Thai News Agency
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