After a 2021 where he conceded t was "quite difficult to implement" projects due to COVID-19 restrictions, Tarraf said that this year has marked "a great opportunity again to start working closely with NOCs".

The OCA has "upgraded all the guidelines" for NOC projects from Olympic Solidarity funding this year.

Applications for funding for projects can be submitted through a so-called "relay system" or directly to the OCA which, subject to further scrutiny of plans, can allocate 75 per cent of the proposed budget.

NOCs are then required to produce a technical report and financial report on the project following its implementation, including video footage, and the OCA can then grant the remaining 25 per cent of funds to the project.

The OCA has also placed an added emphasis on projects it manages this year, including a special project under its development programme beginning in the West Asian region and set to expand to its other four regions.

"We decided this year to upgrade what we are doing," Tarraf told insidethegames.

"We created new projects.

"We followed a new approach, and the centre point is to act ourselves, so to connect projects ourselves.

"Usually as Olympic Solidarity and Olympic Council of Asia as a continental organisation, we have the money, we are looking at the budgets for the NOCs for them to implement then they report back.

"What we did this time is we created new projects to implement ourselves.

"At the same time, we upgraded all the guidelines for all the projects, so now there is always a very clear guideline for every project.

"One of the most important parts is to upgrade the application process to ensure, maintain and enforce good governance, sustainability and transparency."

Tarraf claimed that the decision to delay the transfer of full funding for projects to NOCs until after the OCA has received reports on its implementation "is how we make sure that we are investing the money in the right place".

The OCA's special project usually focuses on a humanitarian element, but it shifted its attention to a development programme aimed at coaches and referees this year.

Three stages of the programme are planned for this year, beginning with an initiative held at the OCA headquarters in Kuwait for West Asian countries.

"We were able to implement programmes for swimming, handball, volleyball, judo, gymnastics, football, athletes, basketball and table tennis with 18 instructors from all International Federations because we were working closely with International and Asian Federations," Tarraf explained.

"We implemented 18 programmes for coaches and referees coming from West Asia, and 18 instructors, with 530 participants.

"This was a great step at the headquarters of the Olympic Council of Asia to enhance the performance, because when you invest in coaches and referees definitely you can have an enhanced performance for the athletes."

The second stage of the project is due to feature representation from Central Asian NOCs in Uzbekistan's capital Tashkent from November 3 to 7 this year, with a focus on judo, weightlifting, boxing and swimming.

All travel and accommodation costs are covered by the OCA as part of the development programme, which Tarraf said offers an example of how "we are creating equal opportunities for all the NOCs".

The project is also due to reach South Asia this year and continue into next year aimed at the remaining two zones within the OCA.

Eight projects were outlined by Tarraf, who said he could sense how "excited" NOCs are at their implementation.

"We kind of activated and triggered the NOC again after we created new projects," he said.

"This is amazing because this is a big part of our world, to invest in our National Olympic Committees.

"The Asian Games is very important, it's one of the biggest multi-sport events, but at the same time we have a social responsibility."

Tarraf also underlined the importance of working with International Federations to ensure that projects are delivered to the highest possible standard.

"At the end of the day, we are one circle," Tarraf said.

"You need to work with everybody to make things happen.

"You have the experts from the International Federations when it comes to special projects, this is how you connect them.

"Things are going very smoothly when we are talking about collaboration with International Federations, because we have already worked with more than 10 International and Asian Federations.

"We have worked with the IOC [International Olympic Committee] for a long time because continental programmes are part of the Olympic Solidarity, and we are talking about the quadrennial budget of $40 million (£35.3 million/€40.4 million) plus - $10 million (£8,8 million/€10.1 million) per year - spent on NOCs.