First ever World Masters Orienteering Championships in Asia

First ever World Masters Orienteering Championships in Asia

The IOF Council has awarded the WMOC 2021 to Japan.The other shortlisted bidders were Italy and Bulgaria. All bids were of very high quality. The WMOC will be held in conjunction with the World Masters Games Kansai  in late May 2021 and it is the first time WMOC will be held in Asia.

In 2016, the IOF General Assembly agreed to ratify the Council approach to not automatically organise WMOC together with the WMG every fourth year. For 2021, the Japan Orienteering Association however teamed up with the World Masters Games Kansai organising committee to put together a competitive bid for WMOC 2021.
– This is the way our cooperation with the World Masters Games should work, says IOF President Leho Haldna. – In this case the cooperation between the JOA and WMG Kansai is very positive and allows us to work towards one of our strategic goals, placing major IOF events outside Europe.

The World Masters Games Kansai guarantees the financial outcome of the event at reasonable entry fee levels and will use its significant resources to provide participant services for logistics and transportation, accommodations and tourist programs. This allows JOA to focus on the orienteering components of the event.
– We are really pleased to announce the very first WMOC in Asia, concludes Leho Haldna.