26th December 2020: The Asian Hockey Federation today announced the successful completion of it’s final Executive Board Meeting of the year 2020.
The meeting was a huge success and it saw active participation and updates shared by Executive Board Members from their respective regions.
The main focus of the meeting was on the AHF Planning 2021, so much so that the Executive Board meeting as a whole can be considered as an AHF Planning Meeting. The Planning for 2021 was presented with major focus on Events, Development, Engagement & Education Activities and also focusing on the needs & priorities of the National Associations, Equipment Distribution Plan, The AHF Social Media and Website Strategy and Campaigns were also discussed.
Secondly, the AHF Operations Plan was discussed and approved by the Executive Board. The 40-page long Operations Plan of the AHF was approved by the Executive Board unanimously. The National Association 2021 Planning Survey was instrumental in the formulation of the Operations Plan. All members of the board participated to approve this planning.
And lastly, the Finance Committee Report for the meeting on 24th December 2020, was presented to the Executive Board. The preliminary budget of 2021 was also approved, and will potentially see its review in the first quarter of 2021.
There was a wide variety of topics covered in the meeting, which included General updates and highlights from 2020, an Events review & related updates, Development & Education, and Social Media & Website updates, the Future Asian Games (2030 Doha & 2034 Riyadh), Tokyo Olympic Games 2020 Update, National Association Activities in 2020, AHF Pitch Project, Equipment Support Updates and Olympic Solidarity update.
An important event review took place and positive updates on the planning of events taking place in 2021 were given. The AHF has completely revamped it’s planning as per 2030-2034 Asian Games.
The Progress of the 2020-21 AHF Pitch Project was highlighted. Potential candidate country applications were also tabled. A complete set of activities that have taken place at the AHF Polytan Hockey Pitch in Andijan Uzbekistan and the activities in the Philippines at the AHF Donated Indoor Hockey Pitch were also elaborated.
The delivery of Equipment Support to various National Associations was detailed in the meeting. The handing out of the AHF Special Pandemic Packages to various countries was also highlighted. Furthermore, it was elaborated that even during these difficult times, the AHF has extended Equipment Support to around 90% of its member National Associations.
The Executive Board was informed that the bidding process for AHF Pitch Project is ongoing and countries have been shortlisted and venues have been identified.
The Executive Board was updated on the decision of including 4 Direct Quota Places for Asian Men’s & Women’s Teams in FIH World Cup 2022.
2021 will also see a new look for the AHF website. The Executive Board was briefed in detail about the changes being planned for the revamped website.
During the Executive Board Meeting, it was descriptively presented that 90% of the Countries from Asia, were able to bring Hockey Back to the Pitch.
87 Development Projects have been completed in 2020, and this was highlighted to the Executive Board. The Online Education Activities were also highlighted, which showed that 183 online courses and workshops have been offered to more than 6125+ Participants.
An update regarding the Future Asian Games was presented. During the OCA General Assembly, the allocation of the 2030 and 2034 Asian Games was completed, the 2030 Asian Games will be hosted in Doha and the 2034 Asian Games will be hosted in Riyadh.
Regarding Social Media, the increasing trajectory of the Social Media KPIs along with detailed insights were presented to the Executive Board. 47 Million + Impressions on Facebook, and 120% growth in audience was reported to the Executive Board. A detailed plan for the future of the medium was also laid out.
The details on the successful completion of Olympic Solidarity 2017-2020 were also highlighted seeing Asia complete 17 Olympic Solidarity projects in the cycle 2021-2024 and Olympic Solidarity Planning was also discussed.
Apart from these highlighted topics, a lot more detailed information was shared with the Executive Board.
The AHF Executive Board highly appreciated the efforts put forward in the year 2020 by the AHF team.
AHF President, Dato Fumio Ogura had this to say: “We bring the year to a close with a detailed review of activities and discussion on future objectives. I am, as always, grateful towards the AHF team led by Chief Executive Dato Tayyab Ikram, for the successful delivery of previous objectives this year, and for their dedication and spirit towards the sport of hockey. It is very encouraging to see such progress being made on all fronts, despite the limitations of the pandemic situation.”
AHF Chief Executive, Dato Tayyab Ikram, said: “I am thankful to our Executive Board for providing us their valuable insights and updates from their countries and regions. With this end of year meeting, we are proud to report significant progress on all fronts made throughout the year. I am grateful also towards my team for an outstanding job done, especially the Events & Competitions team, highlighting whose efforts is absolutely necessary. I would like to stress again that we will prevail through these challenging times and to do this we must now adapt ourselves to the ‘New Normal’. Once we are able to strike this balance, I am sure we will become able to achieve even greater milestones.”
