The New Taipei City government has
invited officials from the Asian Games' organizing body to observe a
marathon in March, as part of efforts to promote the city's bid for the
2023 Asian Games, according to city officials.
New Taipei Mayor Eric
Liluan Chu and officials from the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) are
expected to open the Wan Jin Shi International Marathon on March 4.
As part of the event, a fun run will be held to promote the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea, city officials said.
New
Taipei was chosen last December, along with nine other cities or areas,
to host such promotional fun runs, marking the first time that Taiwan
was awarded such rights.
As part of its efforts to bid for the
2023 Asian Games, the city government secured the rights to host one of the
fun runs after Deputy Mayor Hou Yu-ih led a delegation to meet with
officials of the kuwait-headquartered OCA last year.
A fresh bid for the 2023 Asian Games would be
considered again by the government of China if the sports community wished to
pursue it, a senior Home Affairs official responsible for sports said. Macau and Shenzhen are two possible locations that could jointly host the event.