KUALA LUMPUR, June 20 — The 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou, China cannot be used as an exposure platform for athletes but rather it is a stage for those who really have the potential to win medals at the highest level.

Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) president Tan Sri Mohamad Norza Zakaria said this was because the ratio of gold medals won compared to the number of athletes sent was seen to be inconsistent and declining since the 2006 Asiad in Doha, Qatar.

"Statistically, if we look at it in terms of gold medals per athlete, we can see a decrease from the 2006 edition (in Doha, Qatar) where we sent 244 athletes and got eight golds, which is around 30.5 athletes per gold,” he told reporters after the meeting to select athletes and officials to the 2022 Asian Games, here, today.

The breakdown for other editions: 2010 (Guangzhou, China), 333 athletes sent, nine golds won — roughly 37 athletes per gold; 2014 (Incheon, South Korea), 277 athletes sent, five golds won — equivalent to 55.4 athletes per gold; and 2018 (Jakarta-Palembang, Indonesia) 417 athletes sent, seven golds won — roughly 59.7 athletes per gold.

As such, Mohamad Norza said the committee for selecting athletes and officials for the 2022 Asian Games had set strict criteria to ensure only top athletes get to compete in China.

He said that athletes or teams ranked in the top four at the Asian level since 2018 are listed in Category A (fully funded) while those who achieved the top six positions compared to the previous top eight are listed under Category B (costs are covered by the association and refunded if they win a medal).

Based on the committee’s first meeting today, Mohamad Norza said that, so far, 115 athletes are under Category A while another 98 are under Category B.

"So, there are 213 athletes so far and if we are targeting seven gold medals (for the Hangzhou Asiad), we are talking about 30 athletes per gold medal and that is the same as our 2006 ratio,” he said, adding that the deadline for the submission of athletes’ names for the 2022 Asian Games is July 15.

Meanwhile, National Sports Council (NSC) director-general Datuk Ahmad Shapawi Ismail fully supports the athlete selection committee’s strict conditions for the Asian Games this time.

He reminded those competing under Category A to prove that they deserve all the facilities provided for them.

"What is important here is that the Asian Games is not an exposure platform but a battlefield,” he said. — Bernama