THE Olympic Council of Asia has invited Fiji and other Oceania nations to compete in the 2017 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games in Turkmenistan.
Fiji Association of Sports and National Olympic Committee chief executive officer/ general secretary Lorraine Mar was part of the Oceania National Olympic Committee delegation that visited the games host city Ashgabat earlier this month.
Mar said prior to the delegation’s departure, FASANOC had sought for interest from its relevant affiliates regarding participation in the 2017 AIMAG.
She said the national bodies of athletics, basketball, billiards & snooker, chess, cycling, swimming and weightlifting expressed interest to participate.
“For us at FASANOC we always… and our national federations should as well be always looking for opportunity for competition and better competition for the athletes,” Mar said.
Regarding Team Fiji’s funding for the games, she said the issue was not discussed at any level during the delegation’s visit which coincided with the OCA general assembly.
“Not at this time. Funding, we would hope that there may be some subsidies and grants available from International Olympic Committee (IOC) because there’s Olympic solidarity funding. In the same way that they invited us to participate in the meeting and paid for our expenses to travel there, there could be possibilities of that happening.”
Mar said FASANOC’s usually cash-strapped affiliates might be charged player levies for participating in the 2017 AIMAG.
“Probably,” she said.
“When FASANOC sets a levy, it’s not expected that the athletes pay them. It’s a levy on the sport — the national federations.”
ONOC president Dr. Robin Mitchell said the invitation by OCA was the result of a memorandum of understanding signed between the two continental Olympic bodies and the Government of Turkmenistan.
“It’s quite a good fit because it’s the year before the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast (2018), three years before Tokyo (2020 Commonwealth Games) and also three months before the (Pacific) Mini Games in Port Vila,” he said.
“Asia is probably the most quickly developing sports continent. For us, it’s an excellent opportunity.”
Mitchell said entries for 2017 AIMAG close next year.
The AIMAG will be held from September 10-25, 2017.
