Olympics chief in Bangkok as Thailand bids for Summer Games
Olympics chief in Bangkok as Thailand bids for Summer Games
BANGKOK (Agencies): International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Juan Antonio Samaranch met Thai sports officials on Saturday, three weeks after Thailand said it was bidding for the 2008 summer Games.
Samaranch who arrived in Thailand late Friday night, visited an indoor stadium in Bangkok to observe a game of sepak takraw which is reportedly being considered as an Olympic demonstration sport.
Takraw players try to propel a ball over a high net with their feet. The sport, which is similar to volleyball, is especially popular in southeast Asia.
Samaranch was later due to fly by helicopter to present King Bhumibol Adulyadej with the Lalaounis Cup at a seaside summer palace in Hua Hin.
The Cup recognizes services to the Olympic movement.
Thailand joined the race for the 2008 Games just before the bid deadline last month and is shaping up as a rank outsider against front-runner Beijing and eight other cities, including Paris.
Samaranch is due to hold talks with Thai Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai and other officials and will also meet executives from Thailand's Olympic Committee Sunday.
Thai sports officials here played down talk that Samaranch will make an early assessment of the 2008 bid, keen to highlight the fact that the IOC chief's visit is strictly ceremonial.
In Montreal, the fight against the use of illegal drugs in sport took a key step forward on Friday as a conference decided on the composition of the 35-member board of a new international anti-doping agency.
After two days of talks in Montreal, a group of 30 countries reached a consensus that will see Africa send three representatives to the new World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), one more than had been planned.
The International Intergovernmental Consultative Group on Anti-Doping in Sport said it decided that Morocco, Senegal and another as yet unnamed country will sit on the board of the International Olympic Committee-funded watchdog agency.