In the elections to the Committee of athletes of the OCA, among 26 candidates – two from Turkmenistan
A total of 26 candidates have been nominated for the election to the Athletes Committee of the Olympic Council of Asia, which will be held during the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China.
Athletes at the Asian Games in Hangzhou from September 23 to October 8 will take part in a historic process when they will elect 10 members to the OCA Athletes Committee for the first time — two athletes, one man and one woman, from five Asian zones: from East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Central Asia and Western Asia.
Among the candidates from Central Asia, three men and three women, there are two athletes from Turkmenistan. These are Merdan Ataev (swimming) and Zulhumar Dashkinova (judo). Besides them, there are also two candidates from Iran, and one each from Uzbekistan and Afghanistan. The names of all candidates are published on the OCA website.
Criteria for candidates: be at least 18 years old, be an active athlete at the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, be nominated by the NOC and be able to communicate effectively in English.
The election phase will begin the day after the opening ceremony of the Asian Games in Hangzhou and will end two days before the closing ceremony, with approximately 15,000 athletes eligible to vote. The two athletes from each zone with the highest number of votes are elected by the members of the OCA Athletes' Committee.
The decision to hold elections to the Athletes' Committee was made at the OCA/Olympic Solidarity Athletes Forum in March in Bangkok, Thailand, where a total of 89 participants from 44 national Olympic Committees were represented.
This committee will be responsible for promoting the interests of athletes in Asia to raise their performance standards and create opportunities for them to compete; strengthen the relationship between athletes and the Council and make suggestions for their improvement. The Chairman/members of the committee will attend daily meetings of the heads of missions during the Games and report their findings to the OCA President and the working committee.
Elections to the OCA Athletes' Committee will be held every four years – during the Asian Games.
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