Low-Key Race for 2019 Asiad

(ATR) Dubai, Hanoi and Surabaya, Indonesia are the three cities in a low-key race for the 2019 Asian Games.

Campaigns come to an end Thursday at the Olympic Council of Asia General Assembly in Macau when delegates vote on a host city.

The race for the Games is also unique in that 2019 marks a new schedule for the Asiad. Typically, the Games were held in Winter Olympic years. However, the Games will now take place quadrennially in the year preceding the next Summer Olympics.

All three cities would be first-time hosts. Indonesia staged the 1962 edition in Jakarta.

With virtually no public information available on the bids, the race for 2019 stands in stark contrast to the 2014 race, which featured cut-throat competition and aggressive international campaigns from the cities.

However, none of the bids have websites and similarly, information on the websites of the respective National Olympic Committees is nonexistent.

A post on the OCA website seems to contain the most information.

"Common factors are that all three bids plan to hold approximately 35 sports – the ideal number fixed by the OCA of 28 Olympic sports plus seven to reflect the diverse sporting culture of the OCA’s five zones – and the time frame will be November/December 2019," the post said.

The UAE bid will have events in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Fujairah.

Hanoi is the primary city in Vietnam with football, yachting and rowing events in neighboring cities.

Surabaya, in east Java, would serve as the hub for Indonesia with Gresik and Sidoarjo also hosting events.

The evaluation of the bid cities was led by OCA vice president Syed Arif Hasan, also president of the Pakistan Olympic Association.

All 45 members of the OCA are eligible to vote on the host city.

Written by Ed Hula III.

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