SportAccord Combat Games to Attract Large Asian Audience

(ATR) SportAccord president Hein Verbruggen tells Around the Rings the organizers of the inaugural 2010 Combat Games in Beijing opening Saturday will set the bar "very high" for the next edition.

Verbruggen is delighted with preparations for the Games - the biggest sports event in Beijing since the Olympics - which he said have benefited from the experience of BOCOG officials involved in staging the 2008 Games.

"It is very well organized and sets the bar immediately very high for the future. These people have organized big events and so many events," said Verbruggen, who was head of the IOC's coordination commission for Beijing 2008.

"The important thing is that for the first time it is the international federations themselves that are organizing something through SportAccord. We are very, very thrilled with that."

More than 1,000 athletes from over 66 countries are participating in 13 martial arts and combat sports, both Olympic and non-Olympic. On the sports program are: aikido, boxing, judo, ju-jitsu, karate, kendo, kickboxing, muaythai, sambo, sumo, taekwondo, wrestling and wushu.

Four Beijing Olympic venues are staging events during the eight days of competition that wrap up Sept. 4.

More than 100,000 spectators are expected to attend competition held at the National Indoor Stadium in Beijing Olympic Park, China Agricultural University Gymnasium, Beijing Institute of Technology Gymnasium and the Science and Technology University Gymnasium.

Between five and 10 IOC members are attending the Combat Games, Verbruggen said.

Kung Fu stars Jackie Chan and Jet Li have helped to generate interest in the event and will attend the opening ceremony in the National Indoor Stadium Saturday. Martial arts displays and musical performances are promised.

Chinese state television station CCTV is the host broadcaster of the Combat Games.

Verbruggen expects big crowds and predicts "extremely promising" TV audience figures, with Eurosport and TV broadcasters in Brazil, Thailand, Korea and Japan among the countries giving the Combat Games airtime. The Chinese organizers have negotiatedthe TV rights for the Games.

He said the venues "will be full. No doubt given the popularity of these sports in China".

Verbruggen said the Combat Games will help to bring the 13 sports on the program to a wider global audience. "Our first obligation is to do promotion for the participating sports. If we can bring all these sports on TV in many countries, that is the first thing."

A cultural program that aims to reflect the social and cultural values of the sports is also part of the Combat Games concept.

The multisport project forms part of SportAccord's mission statement to support and promote the interests of its 104 members.

Verbruggen hopes to stage the next Combat Games in 2013 or 2015. It will become a biennialor quadrennial event but will not be staged in an Olympic year.

"This is something we will decide with all the federations," he said.

"We have had a lot of requests. With the Combat Games, it is absolutely no problem to have cities or regions to organize. There are so many countries in Asia and beyond interested in hosting," he said.

Other SportAccord member federations have expressed interest in staging different multisport events including artistic and mind Games, he confirmed.

SportAccord's first Mind Games may be held in autumn 2011, with chess among the sports on the program. Verbruggen also wants to stage the SportAccord Beach Games by the end of 2012.

A blow to his ambitions came when SportAccord's executive director Nolvenn Dufay De Lavallaz quit her post a few weeks ago. She had been central to driving forward Verbruggen's initiatives in the year-and-a-half since SportAccord's rebranding and relocation to Lausanne.

Verbruggen declined to give a full explanation for her departure but praised her work for SportAccord, saying "she did an excellent job".

Verbruggen is not planning to bring in a new executive director until 2011. "I took the decision that I would replace her myself until the end of the year," he said.

Written by Mark Bisson.