Dato Zainal Abu Zarin of Malaysia, newly elected president of Asia
Paralympic Committee, declared in Kuala Lumpur yesterday that
Guangzhou of China won the bid to host the 2010 Asian Para-Games.
The Federation of Far East and South Pacific Games for the disabled and the
Asian Paralympic Council had merged into the Asia Paralympic Committee at the
FESPIC Federation General Assembly held on November 27 and 28.
Zarin declared that with a majority of members voting in favor of Guangzhou,
Guangzhou won the bid to host the 2010 Asian Paralympic Games.
Su Zequn, deputy mayor of Guangzhou municipal government, said in his bidding
statement: "Guangzhou has perfect sports facilities. There are more than 10,000
sports facilities in Guangzhou, most of which are accessible to people with
disabilities. And there is a comprehensive sports center specifically designed
as the training base for the disabled athletes."
"Guangzhou has won the bid to host 2010 Asian Games. The 44 competition
venues and 44 training venues, which are going to be used for Guangzhou Asian
Games, will be renovated before 2010 to meet special requirements of Asian
Para-Games." he added.
When introducing Guangzhou's experiences in hosting major sport events, Su
said: "With professionals and volunteers in high quality and large quantity,
Guangzhou had successfully hosted two National Games, one National Para-Games
and numerous major international events. The 2008 Beijing Paralympic Games and
2010 Guangzhou Asian Games will surely give us invaluable experiences and
abundant human resources."
Su proposed that 2010 Asian Para-Games be held in the middle of December
2010, shortly after scheduled Guangzhou Asian Games on Nov. 11-27, which will
benefit the Asian Para-Games in terms of continuance of publicity and sharing of
resources.
When responding to the question that the two Games will be held back-to-back,
Zarin said that the case happened in Bangkok of Thailand and Busan of South
Korea and it might be a tendency.
"But as the Asia Paralympic Committee has just emerged, we have not thought
about that and have not signed any agreement with Asia Olympic Council."