Daily Times

LAHORE: Pakistan will take part in 07 disciplines of the 6th Asian Beach Games 2020 to be held at Sanya, China from November 28 to December 06, 2020. The participation of the country was announced by Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) President Lt Gen (r) Syed Arif Hasan on Monday. Sanya, a tropical tourist resort, is also known as the ‘Hawaii of China’. Sanya will be the second Chinese city to host the Asian Beach Games, after Haiyang in 2012. Pakistan won only two medals at the 2012 Asian Beach Games: silver in kabbadi and bronze in handball. The POA chief approved Pakistan’s participation in the Asian Beach Games after consulting the concerned National Sports Federations. Pakistan will take part in beach athletics, beach handball, ju-jitsu, beach kabaddi, sailing, beach volleyball and beach wrestling. At the last Beach Games in Danang, Vietnam in 2016, Pakistan clinched a total of 11 medals ––– 02 gold, 03 silver and 06 bronze. Pakistan won gold medals in ju-jitsu and wrestling. The inaugural Beach Games were held in Bali, Indonesia from October 18 to 26 in 2008.

POA President Arif said that in a letter addressed to the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA), the organising committee of the 6th Asian Beach Games had informed that the resort city in tropical Hainan province had not registered any new COVID-19 cases for over two months and the last confirmed patient was cured and discharged from hospital on March 8, 2020. This augurs well for the OCA’s Asian Beach Games, which are set to be held with 17 sports and the participation of athletes from the 45 members National Olympic Committees. “The POA has sent entry by sport and entry by number forms of seven sports disciplines to the organising committee of the Beach Games within the given timeline. At present, the organising committee of the 6th Asian Beach Games is speeding up the preparation in an orderly manner, hoping to give everyone trendy, green, fantastic and magnificent Games at Sanya.” Arif, who is also Vice President of the OCA, said, however, the OCA would continue to monitor the situation with the organising committee, the Chinese Olympic Committee and with all the National Olympic Committees in the five zones of Asia.

To a question, Arif said there was still a long way to go in respect of controlling and preventing the spread of COVID-19 around Asia because the health, safety and well-being of our athletes was the most important factor. “However, the POA remains hopeful that the Asian Beach Games will go ahead as planned in seven months’ time,” he added. It is pertinent to mention here that the OCA’s 19th Asian Games, also known as Asiad, will be held in Hangzhou from September 10-25, 2022, and will be the third Asian Games to be hosted by China following Beijing 1990 and Guangzhou 2010, with the participation of 45 NOCs of Asia in 42 sports.

Sanya was announced as host of the 2020 Asian Beach Games in June 2018, following an inspection visit by the OCA top officials. Boasting a heritage of several thousand years, Sanya is set to welcome more than 5,000 athletes. Sanya is situated on the southernmost tip of Hainan Island in Southeast China. It is served by Sanya Phoenix International Airport, which is located 11 kilometres southwest of the city centre. The area is surrounded by places of interest and natural beauty. East of the airport lies beautiful Sanya Bay and Tian Ya Hai Jiao, a world-famous seaside area which literally means ‘End of the World’ in English. To the south is the Phoenix Mountain Love Forever Scenic Area and the South China Sea. Sanya’s weather is summery all year round, with an annual average temperature of 25 degrees Celsius. The warm weather remains throughout the winter months. Sanya has a population of 700,000.