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Hanoi Wins Two-way Contest for 2019 Asian Games as Samsung Signs up for Incheon Event

Games - 08 Nov 2012 - Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, was today chosen to host the 18th edition of the Asian Games in 2019, which will mark the first time that the event has been held in the country.

Hanoi was selected ahead of Surabaya in Indonesia in a vote at the general assembly of the Olympic Council of Asia in Macau.

The contest was expected to be a three-way race but Dubai in the United Arab Emirates did not proceed, with reports suggesting that it wants to focus on bids for the 2020 Expo and the 2024 Olympic Games.

Taipei City in Taiwan, a fourth contender, withdrew from the race earlier this year.

The Asiad is the second-largest multi-sports event in the world, behind the Olympics, involving almost 10,000 athletes from 45 countries and all 28 Olympic sports plus a selection of other sports popular in the host country.

The games have never been staged in Vietnam although Hanoi hosted the 2009 Asian Indoor Games and Nha Trang will be the venue for the 2016 Asian Beach Games.

OCA president Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah said: "We have trust in their leaders, the government of Vietnam, the city of Hanoi and the national Olympic committee. Vietnam has all the tools - a country with big potential and a booming economy."

The Asian Games are normally held every four years but there will be a five-year gap between the 17th event in Incheon, South Korea in 2014 and the Hanoi games. The last Asiad was held in Guangzhou, China in 2010.

Samsung, the Korean consumer electronics giant and an established sponsor of the Asian Games, was today unveiled as a sponsor of Incheon 2014.

The company is the longest-serving ‘prestige partner’ of the Asian Games, having come on board for the 1998 event in Bangkok.
Samsung’s category rights at the games will include mobile, audio/visual products and home appliances and it will supply personal computers to the organising committee.

The Incheon games are scheduled for September 19 to October 4, 2014.

Samsung is also a TOP sponsor of the International Olympic Committee in a deal that runs until 2016 and has been talks to extend the partnership to include the 2018 winter Olympics, to be held in PyeongChang in South Korea.

Sportcal