The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) is an international organization which represents the current 45 National Olympic Committees of Asia.
It is affiliated with the International Olympic Committee and its affiliated bodies, including the Association of National Olympic Committees, and serves as the continental association of Asia.
The organization's flagship event is the quadrennial Asian Games, held since 1951.
History In 1948, during the 1948 Summer Olympics, Asian National Olympic Committees (NOCs) decided to organize the Asian Games, under the auspices of Asian Games Federation. The following year the Asian Games Federation was organized. Decades later this would be reorganized and the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) was established in New Delhi on 16 November 1982. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) recognized the OCA within the same year.
On 9 December 1996, during the 15th General Assembly in Bangkok, the Olympic Council of Asia unveiled its official anthem, a composition that blends sounds from various cultures across the Asian continent. This song symbolises cooperation and unity among Asian nations in the sporting world, reflecting an effort to strengthen ties and promote the Olympic spirit in the region.
The OCA together with the Asian Electronic Sports Federation (AESF) announced a new campaign for the upcoming 2022 Asian Games. The campaign, ‘Road to Asian Games’ will be officially organized by the AESF and aims to bring the Olympic spirit to eSports and introduce an education program for participating eSports athletes.
On 8 July 2023, Talal Fahad Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah was elected as President of the OCA. However, the IOC refused to recognize the election, and on 30 July 2023, the IOC, in a letter, asked Randhir Singh, who was at the time the Acting President of the OCA, to continue as acting president while the IOC investigated the 2023 OCA presidential election. In July 2024, Singh was elected as the next President of the OCA, and the election, where he was the sole candidate, was unanimously approved by the Election Committee. Singh's presidential election is set to take place at the OCA General Assembly on 8 September 2024.
Member nations In the following table, the year in which the NOC was recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is also given if it is different from the year in which the NOC was created. The NOC for Macau is recognized by the OCA, but is not recognized by the IOC and does not compete in the Olympic Games. The OCA also includes the NOCs of Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Palestine. Timor-Leste is the newest member, joining in 2003.
Nation Code National Olympic Committee President Created OCA Member IOC member Ref.West Asia Zone BRN Bahrain Olympic Committee Sheikh Khalid bin Hamad Al Khalifa 1978 1982 IRQ National Olympic Committee of Iraq Aqeel Moften 1948 1982 JOR Jordan Olympic Committee Prince Faisal bin Al Hussein 1957 1982 KUW Kuwait Olympic Committee Sheikh Fahad Nasser Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah 1957 1982 LBN Lebanese Olympic Committee Jean Hammam 1947 1982 OMA Oman Olympic Committee Sheikh Khalid bin Mohammed Al Zubair 1982 PLE Palestine Olympic Committee Jibril Rajoub 1931 1995 QAT Qatar Olympic Committee Joaan bin Hamad 1979 1982 KSA Saudi Arabian Olympic Committee Abdulaziz bin Turki Al Saud 1964 1982 SYR Syrian Olympic Committee Feras Mouala 1948 1982 UAE United Arab Emirates National Olympic Committee Sheikh Ahmed bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum 1979 1982 YEM Yemen Olympic Committee Abdulrahman Alakwaa 1971 1982 Central Asia Zone AFG National Olympic Committee of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan Hafizullah Wali Rahimi 1935 1982 IRI National Olympic Committee of the Islamic Republic of Iran Mahmoud Khosravivafa 1947 1982 KAZ National Olympic Committee of the Republic of Kazakhstan Timur Kulibayev 1990 1993 KGZ National Olympic Committee of the Kyrgyz Republic Sadyr Mamytov 1991 1993 TJK National Olympic Committee of the Republic of Tajikistan Emomalii Rahmon 1992 1993 TKM National Olympic Committee of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow 1990 1993 UZB National Olympic Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan Umid Akhmatdjanov 1992 1993 South Asia Zone BAN Bangladesh Olympic Association Abu Belal Muhammad Shafiul Huq 1979 1982 BHU Bhutan Olympic Committee Prince Dasho Jigyel Ugyen Wangchuck1983 IND Indian Olympic Association P. T. Usha 1927 1982 MDV Maldives Olympic Committee Mohamed Shaweed 1985 NEP Nepal Olympic Committee Jeevan Ram Shrestha 1962 1982 PAK Pakistan Olympic Association Syed Arif Hasan 1948 1982 SRI National Olympic Committee of Sri Lanka Suresh Subramaniam 1937 1982 East Asia Zone CHN Chinese Olympic Committee Gao Zhidan 1910 1982 PRK Olympic Committee of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea Kim Il-guk 1953 1982 HKG Sports Federation and Olympic Committee of Hong Kong, China Timothy Fok 1950 1982 JPN Japanese Olympic Committee Seiko Hashimoto 1911 1982 KOR Korean Sport & Olympic Committee Ryu Seung-min 1946 1982 MAC Sports and Olympic Committee of Macau, China Lo Keng Siu 1989 MGL Mongolian National Olympic Committee Battushig Batbold 1956 1982 TPE Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee Hong-dow Lin 1960 1982 Southeast Asia Zone BRU Brunei Darussalam National Olympic Council Prince Haji Sufri Bolkiah 1984 CAM National Olympic Committee of CambodiaThong Khon 1983 1994 INA Indonesian Olympic Committee Raja Sapta Oktohari 1946 1982 LAO National Olympic Committee of Laos Phouthone Seung-Akhom 1975 1982 MAS Olympic Council of Malaysia Mohamad Norza Zakaria 1953 1982 MYA Myanmar Olympic Committee Thet Khaing Win (Minister for the Ministry of Health and Sports) 1947 1982 PHI Philippine Olympic Committee Abraham Tolentino 1911 1982 SGP Singapore National Olympic Council Jessie Phua (acting) 1947 1982 THA National Olympic Committee of Thailand Pimol Srivikorn 1948 1982 TLS National Olympic Committee of Timor Leste Francisco Kalbuadi Lay 2003 VIE Vietnam Olympic Committee Nguyễn Văn Hùng 1952 1982
The OCA includes the transcontinental country of Kazakhstan, but does not include Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cyprus, Georgia, Turkey, and Russia, although they are located wholly or mostly in Asia. Israel, however, was excluded after the Munich Massacre, upon the claim that their delegation security at the Asian Games would be a problem. The South Caucasian countries opted to join the European Olympic Committees after the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
Former members Nation Code National Olympic Committee President Created OCA Member IOC member Ref. ISR Olympic Committee of Israel Yael Arad 1933 1952
Israel was a member of the Asian Games Federation, but was excluded from the Olympic Council of Asia upon its re-incorporation in 1981. Since 1994, Israel is a member of the European Olympic Committees (EOC) instead.
OCA regional zones OCA Zone 1 (West Asia)
OCA Zone 2 (Central Asia)
OCA Zone 3 (South Asia)
OCA Zone 4 (East Asia)
OCA Zone 5 (Southeast Asia)
Administration List of presidents No. Name NOC Term Duration1 Fahad Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah 16 November 1982 – 2 August 1990 Acting Roy de Silva 2 August 1990 – 1 July 1991 2 Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah 1 July 1991 – 10 September 2021 3Randhir Singh11 September 2021 – 26 January 20264Joaan bin Hamad Al Thani26 January 2026 – present
Executive board Designation Name NOC Entry NotePresident Joaan bin Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani 1990 Coordination Committee Honorary Life Vice-presidents Randhir Singh 1990 Coordination Committee Wei Jizhong 1991 Ethics Committee Vice-presidents Hidehiko Yoshida 2023 Leading Vice-president Charouck Arirachakaran 2023 Southeast Asia Timothy Fok 1999 East Asia Tsunekazu Takeda 1999 2026 Asian Games Syed Arif Hasan 2007 South Asia Yu Zaiqing 2015 ANOC Song Luzeng 2015 2020 Asian Beach Games and 2022 Asian Games Timur Kulibayev 2016 Central Asia Thani Abdulrahman Al Kuwari 2019 West Asia Dato Seri Chaiyapak Siriwat 2020 6th AIMAG Bangkok Otabek Umarov 2020 4th AYG Tashkent Chey Tae-won 2020 IF/AF Liaison Jassim Rashid Al Buenain 2021 2030 Asian Games Abdulaziz Bin Turki Al-Faisal Al Saud 2021 2034 Asian Games Gordon Tang 2021 2029 AYG Cambodia Honorary Vice-presidents Hemasiri Fernando 2003 Rita Sri Wahyusih Subowo 2015 Honorary Members Natalya Sipovich 2007 Hoàng Vĩnh Giang 2007 Souhail Khoury 2007 Moon Dae-sung 2011 Jefri Bolkiah 2015 Raad Hammoudi Salman al-Dulaimi 2015 Rustam Emomali 2019 Taha Al Kishry 2019 Ajmal Ghani 2019 Seyed Reza Salehi Amiri 2019 Director General & Technical Director Husain Al-Musallam 1982 Director General & Technical Director Vinod Kumar Tiwari 2015 Deputy Director General Source:
Standing Committee-Chair Committee Chairperson NOC OCA Rules Committee Talal Fahad Ahmed Al-Sabah OCA Advisory Committee Ng Ser Miang OCA Peace Through Sport Committee Faisal bin Hussein OCA Athletes Committee Mikako Kotani OCA Sports Environment Committee Yu Kyung-sun OCA Medical Committee Sultan Ya'rub Qahtan Al Busaidi OCA Sports for All Committee Mowaffak Joumaa OCA Media Committee Charles King Chiu Lo OCA Finance Committee Kevin Kuo-I Chen OCA Culture Committee Khunying Patama Leeswadtrakul OCA Entourage Committee Seung Min Ryu OCA Education Committee Abdullah bin Musa'ed bin Abdulaziz Al Saud OCA Coordination Committee Randhir Singh OCA Ethics Committee Jizhong Wei OCA Information and Statistics Committee Demchigjav Zagdsuren OCA International Relations Committee Jigyel Ugyen Wangchuck OCA Sports Committee Song Luzeng OCA Gender Equity Committee Hayat Abdulaziz Al-Khalifa
Honorary Life Members Designation Name Country Honorary Life President HH Maharadhiraj Yadavindra Singh Jorge B. Vargas Sultan Hamengkubuwono IX Praphas Charusathien Chang Key-yong Air Chief Marshal Dawee Chullasapya Malik Meraj Khalid Raja Bhalindra Singh Sheikh Fahad Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah Ryotaro Azuma Prince Gholamreza Pahlavi Honorary Life Vice-president Chang Feng-hsu Arnaldo de Oliveira Sales Hong Kong, China Yoshio Kuroda
OCA General Assembly (GA)
Source:
In General Assembly (GA) (OCA Annual General Assembly) hosts of various competitions are introduced and important decisions are made about the countries and sports that covered by OCA.
1st: 1982 in New Delhi, India. 2nd: 1983 in, . 3rd: 1984 in Seoul, South Korea. 4th: 1985 in, . 5th: 1986 in, . 6th: 1987 in, . 7th: 1988 in, . 8th: 1989 in, . 9th: 1990 in Beijing, China. 10th: 1991 in, . 11th: 1992 in, . 12th: 1993 in, . 13th: 1994 in, . 14th: 23 May 1995 in Seoul, South Korea. 15th: 1996 in Bangkok, Thailand. 16th: 1997 in, . 17th: 1998 in, . 18th: 1999 in Kuwait City, Kuwait. 19th: 12 November 2000 in Busan, South Korea. 20th: 2001 in Aomori, Japan. 21st: 2002 in Busan, South Korea. 22nd: 24 Jan 2003 in Kuwait City, Kuwait. 23rd: 2004 in Doha, Qatar. 24th: 2005 in Guangzhou, China. 25th: 2006 in Doha, Qatar. 26th: 16 April 2007 in Kuwait City, Kuwait. 27th: 2008 in Bali, Indonesia. 28th: 3 July 2009 in Singapore. 29th: 2010 in Guangzhou, China. 30th: 2011 in Tokyo, Japan. 31st: 2012 in Macau. On 8 November 2012, the OCA decided at its 31st General Assembly in Macau to create a special multi-sport event called Asian Games Centennial Festival. 32nd: 18 January 2013 in Manila, Philippines. (After 64th OCA Executive Board meeting) 33rd: 2014 in Songdo, South Korea. 34th: 16 September 2015 in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan. 35th: 25 September 2016 in Danang, Vietnam. 36th: 21 September 2017 in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan. 37th: 19 August 2018 in Jakarta, Indonesia. 38th: 3 March 2019 in Bangkok, Thailand. 39th: 16 December 2020 in Muscat, Oman. 40th: 21 November 2021 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. 41st: 4 October 2022 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. 42nd: 8 July 2023 in Bangkok, Thailand. 43rd: Feb 2024 in Bangkok, Thailand. 44th: 8 September 2024 in New Delhi, India. 45th: 12 May 2025 in Kuwait City, Kuwait 46th: 26 January 2026 Tashkent, Uzbekistan 47th: 27 January 2027 Doha, Qatar
OCA Executive Board Meeting (EBM)