Olympic champion Ding Ning among nine members for OCA Athletes' Committee after inaugural election

HANGZHOU, Oct. 7 (Xinhua) -- China's Olympic table tennis champion Ding Ning was elected as one of nine members for the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) Athletes' Committee, as the OCA announced the results of the committee's first-ever election on Saturday.

"I am honored to be elected into this committee. I am very happy to join and, in the future, I will try my best to help athletes in need," said Ding.

The nine elected members represent the five regions of Asia. Apart from Ding, other members come from India, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Turkmenistan, Singapore, and Hong Kong, China.

Four of them will be nominated to become members of the organizing committees for future editions of the Asian Games and Asian Winter Games. Additionally, the committee members will elect their own chair and vice-chair, and the list of elected officials will be announced in due course.

"We were delighted to see candidates from all five zones (within the OCA) and we had 26 athletes stand for election and it was a great number," said Mikako Kotani, chair of the OCA Athletes' Committee.

Tony Tarraf, director of the OCA Athletes' Development Department, revealed that the voter turnout for the election reached 66%, with a total of 7,785 votes cast.