Ng Confident of Resolution to Sochi Anti-Gay Legislation

(ATR) IOC presidential candidate Ser Miang Ng says he is confident there will be a "satisfactory" diplomatic resolution to the issue of a controversial Russian anti-gay law at the Sochi Winter Olympics.

Recent comments by Russian politicians say there will be no special treatment for visiting athletes and fans during the Games.

The law bans discussion and displays of so-called "non-traditional" relationships around minors. Symbols like rainbow flags and pins are also illegal. Violations are punishable by fines and jail time with foreigners also facing deportation.

But Ng, who is bidding to become the first IOC president from Asia at the IOC Session next month in Buenos Aires, remained calm over the issue when he spoke to journalists across from the Olympic Park on Monday.

"The IOC has made a very strong point that they will be against any action that would discriminate against participants at the Sochi Games, whether it will be officials, media or definitely the athletes," he said.

"But I believe that the IOC and the chairman of the Coordination Commission has been talking to the highest authority in Russia and I believe that there will be a good solution to that. We had similar concerns about the very strong anti-doping laws during the Torino Games as well. I think to quiet the publicity we managed to resolve that and it was a good Games.

"Sochi has put in a lot of efforts and resources in organizing and preparing for the Games and I’m quite sure they also want it to be a successful Games so we have same common objective there. So I believe this issue will be resolved in a satisfactory way for all."

On looking forward to the election next month in Buenos Aires where he will be up against Thomas Bach, Denis Oswald, Sergey Bubka, C.K. Wu and Richard Carrion, Ng predicted it would be a "very good contest."

At the same IOC Session the Executive Board will also vote on a new sport to enter the program in 2020 out of baseball/softball, squash and wrestling. Ng was keen to stress that whatever the result, he would want to encourage new sports to take a more active role across the wider Olympic movement.

"I have a lot of sympathies for new sports knocking on the door – some of them are exciting sports and especially attract a lot of young people and one of the ways to do this is for us to think about the Youth Olympic Games.

"The YOG has now become a great Games on its own, it opens up opportunities for new ideas like the 3 on 3 basketball, like the NOC teams, like the mixed-gender teams and I think we could use the YOG to experiment with some of these new sports.

"Some of these sports we could channel through the YOG, and we can judge from there whether they have opportunity to bid for the Olympic Games and we can see the response of how young people respond to it, how it looks on television, how sponsors will react to it."

Ng also took time to reiterate parts of his campaign manifesto, including a pledge to hold a Session in ancient Olympia in Greece to plan the future of the Olympics in the Games’ birthplace.

Reported by Christian Radnedge

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