Seventeen countries confirm participation in Children of Asia Games

Seventeen countries confirmed their participation in the Fifth International Sports Games "Children of Asia." The Games will take place in 2012 in the capital of Yakutia, Yakutsk.

Photo: Source: ysia.ru

Faina Sokolova, deputy minister for federative relations and foreign affairs of Yakutia, said that the official consent had been received from Azerbaijan, Vietnam, India, Iraq, Iran, China, Pakistan, Palestine, Korea, Uzbekistan, Singapore, Syria, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Sri Lanka and Malaysia. The athletes of Bahrain, Bhutan, Cambodia, Qatar, Laos, Maldives, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Japan and Mongolia evinced their interest in the event.

Bhutan, Cambodia, Maldives and Mongolia asked for financial assistance to organize the transfer.  The chairman of the Organization Committee of the Games, the Vice President of Sakha (Yakutia) Republic, Dmitry Glushko, keeps this question under personal control. According to Sokolova, the transfer for the athletes from the above-mentioned countries could be funded by the federal budget.

Oman, Jordan and Armenia officially refused to take part in the Games. Syria was intended to send 354 athletes for the Games, although the Regulations of the event stipulate the maximum of 80 participants. Only the hosting side will have the right to nominate two squads totaling 389 athletes on all kinds of sports, including the Paralympic program, Ysia news agency reports.

It was also said that the football team of the republic would probably undergo training in China. This opportunity would give international experience to the members of the team, officials said.

Gavril Tsypandin, the chairman of the department for sports activities of "Children of Asia" Sports Games, 930 participants would arrive for the Games from the regions of the Russian Federation. The Ural region will send 134 participants; 135 people will arrive from the Siberian Federal Region; 174 will arrive from the Far East; Moscow will send 55 participants.