The Olympic Council of Asia has announced it will continue the tradition of the Asian Games Most Valuable Player award, which was last won by swimmer Kosuke Hagino in 2014 ©Getty Images

The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) has announced that at the end of the 2018 Asian Games here on Sunday (September 2), it will present one athlete with a Most Valuable Player (MVP) award to celebrate their achievements during the event.

The award has been presented at every Games since the 1998 edition in Bangkok, so the announcement confirms the tradition will continue for the sixth consecutive time.

Raja Randhir Singh, Honorary Life President of the OCA, has been appointed chairman of the MVP Award Committee, which will meet on Thursday (August 30) to discuss leading candidates for the prize.

Once the winner has been decided, the trophy will be presented during a ceremony in the Main Press Centre in Jakarta at midday on Sunday, the day of the Closing Ceremony.

Japanese sprinter Koji Ito won the first award in 1998 ©Getty Images
Japanese sprinter Koji Ito won the first award in 1998 ©Getty Images

The full MVP Committee is made up of Charles Lo, OCA Media Committee chairman, Celso Dayrit, President of the Asian Fencing Federation, Francis Wanadi, deputy second of the Indonesian Asian Games Organising Committee, Jeremy Walker, editor of the OCA magazine Sporting Asia, and Vinod Kumar Tiwar, OCA director of International and National Olympic Committee relations.

Whoever wins the prize will be given $50,000 (£39,000/€43,000) in prize money as well as the MVP trophy.

Previous winners include Chinese badminton player Lin Dan, who won the men’s singles gold medal in 2010, and Japanese sprinter Koji Ito, who won the first award in 1998 after claiming the 100 and 200 metres sprint double in Games record times.

The most recent winner was Japanese swimmer Kosuke Hagino, who won the 2014 award after winning eight medals, including four golds.