India to host 2015 AFC Asian medical conference

The AFC Medical Committee, which met on Tuesday in Kuala Lumpur under the chairmanship of Dato' Dr. Gurcharan Singh (Malaysia), decided to award the hosting rights of the 5th AFC Conference on Science and Football Medicine 2015 to India.

The members agreed to introduce AFC Meritorious Award for Football Medicine that will be bestowed during the AFC Conference on Football Science and Medicine, an event held every four years. The award is open to doctors, physiotherapists and allied health professionals that have rendered longstanding professional assistance and scientific research towards the development of football and football medicine in particular.

At the outset, Dato' Dr. Gurcharan Singh said AFC educational programs such as "Football for Health", Football Medicine Regional Courses and Eleven Plus and AFC Travelling Fellow – Football Medicine have been well received by all and advocates a good image of AFC.

"Myanmar and Sri Lanka have embraced the 'Football for Health' programme and other countries have also shown their interest. We will actively implement this programme in the next few years in other countries," he said.

"I am happy to note that AFC is setting new standards in medical education and healthcare of players."

He expressed concerns of positive doping cases at the national and regional competitions.

"We had only one positive case in AFC competitions last year but nine positive cases were reported by national anti-doping organisations. We have to now focus on lower level and work with the national associations to keep Football clean," he added.

All decisions taken by this committee need to be ratified by the AFC Executive Committee to take effect.