Better marketing for Asian Games on Randhir’s agenda

Better marketing for the Asian Games and getting more sponsors on board will be high on the agenda when Randhir Singh takes over as president of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) on Sunday, the veteran administrator said.

The 77-year-old has been the OCA acting president since 2021, filling in for Kuwait’s Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah, who was handed a 15-year ban from sports administration in May this year over ethics breaches. A five-time Olympics shooter, Singh is the lone eligible candidate for the OCA president’s post and his elevation will be confirmed in Sunday’s OCA general assembly in New Delhi.

Runs in the family

Set to be elected as the first Indian president of the OCA, Randhir Singh talked about his family’s contribution in sport. “I’ve been lucky in my life as my family has been involved in sport for a very long time. I’m the fourth generation. Sports started in my family during my great grandfather Maharaja Rajinder Singh’s time. It was cricket and polo then. So, now, it’s my turn,” he said. “It’s been a long journey definitely... as a spectator, as a young boy with my father Raja Bhalindra Singh, then as a shooter and then as an administrator from 1984 onwards. I was lucky to be at the OCA for 33 years since 1991,” he added.

“We are financially very strong as it is,” Singh said ahead of the OCA gathering. “The idea now is to get more and more sponsors on board, and you can’t do it if you don’t sell the Games. People should be more aware of these Games. If awareness comes, money would automatically follow.”

The OCA also hosts the Asian Winter Games, Beach Games, Youth Games, Indoor Games and Martial Arts Games. Singh was particularly bullish about the appeal of the Asian Games, which is second in size only to the Summer Olympics.

“Hangzhou raised the bar last year and Nagoya-Aichi will have a tough time to match it,” he said referring to the 2022 and the 2026 hosts of the Games, respectively.

The benchmark will be further raised by Doha and Riyadh in the subsequent Games, Singh predicted. A former Asian Games gold medallist himself, Singh said Olympics sport in the continent was in robust health.

He singled out the performance of China, who equalled the Unites States’ tally of 40 gold at the Paris Olympics.