The United Arab Emirates National Olympic Committee (UASNOC) has announced that the UAE has never lodged any application to host the 2019 Asian Games (Asiad), denying media reports that the nation pulled out from the bidding race. "The UAE's National Olympic Committee did not apply for hosting 2019 Asian Games…Therefore the news reports are baseless," arabianbusiness.com quoted the committee's first vice-president Yousuf Al Sarkal as saying. Al Sarkal said the committee has “only considered this, and in the first place, it had not applied for hosting the Games." The Olympic Council of Asia announced on November 8 that Hanoi has outplayed Surabaya of Indonesia to be chosen to host the 2019 edition. In an earlier statement posted on its website, OCA said that Dubai had pulled out of the bidding at the last minute but an update made no reference to UAE's most populous city, the ArabianBusiness reported. After Hanoi was declared winner, UAE media reported nothing about the failure of Dubai, and coverage of several international news agencies also said “Dubai did nothing in the race to win the bid to host the Asiad.” In July, the UAE said it would likely bid for the 2024 Olympic Games after ruling out a bid for the event in 2020. The winning bid to host the Games remains controversial in Vietnam, where many are concerned over the expenses to host Asia’s largest multisport event. Local chief sporting officials said the expenses range from US$150 million to $300 million. The three hosts of the last previous editions, however, all had to spend more than $1 billion for the organization.