All 19 venues in Hangzhou ready to host Asian Games: Asian Paralympic Committee

The Executive Board of the Asian Paralympic Committee (APC) met in Dubai, UAE on December 15 and 16 and heard updates on various topics including the upcoming Hangzhou 2022 Asian Para Games to be held in October 2023.

Fourteen members attended the 29th EB meeting that approved the Budget for 2023 and the financial reports of the past year. The Executive Board also heard updates on future Games including the Tashkent 2025 Asian Youth Para Games and Aichi Nagoya 2026 Asian Para Games.

In his opening speech, APC President Majid Rashed welcomed the Board members to Dubai, where the APC headquarters are based, and expressed his hope for a fruitful meeting over the next two days.

"It's great to end the year meeting our Board members in Dubai. This has been a good year with lots of events and success forAsian para-athletes and NPCs. We look forward to another eventful year, with the Hangzhou 2022 Asian Para Games the focus for us. I am sure, it's going to a great event setting several new benchmarks. We are eagerly looking forward to it," said APC Majid Rashed in his opening remarks.

The Board also discussed the outcome of the IPC Extraordinary General Assembly and the impact it will have in competition after the suspension of Russia and Belarus NPCs.

There were progress reports and presentations from the Organising Committees of the Games with the HAPGOC (Hangzhou 2020 APG organising committee), updating the Board that all the 19 venues in Hangzhou are ready to host the Games next October.

They also added that the site visit of technical delegates, including the APC, will be announced soon. Test events for sports including wheelchair basketball, table tennis, judo and lawn bowls have already been held.

The report also showed that technical delegates and classifiers have been appointed for the Games and 82,000 accessible facilities upgrade projects have been completed.

In addition, the Board was updated about future Games through presentations from the Tashkent 2025 Organising Committee who presented a detailed report of the venues and Games village.

Furthermore, the Board thanked the Organising Committees and governments of Indonesia and Bahrain for hosting the ASEAN Para Games 2022 and Bahrain 2022 Asian Youth Para Games and West Asia Games.

They also praised the contribution of Saudi Arabia in the development of the Paralympic Movement which also included their successful hosting of the Saudi National Games 2022.

The Board meeting concluded with reports from the APC standing committees and sub regions. At the end of the meeting, President Rashed thanked everyone for their support and wished everyone a happy new year.