MUSCAT, 17 Dec 2020:
The State of Qatar has won the bid to host the 2030 Asian Games after Doha achieved the highest number of votes in the voting which took place on the sidelines of the 39th General Assembly of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) in the Omani capital of Muscat yesterday.
QNA reported OCA president Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah announced Qatar won the bid to host the 2030 Asian Games as Doha bid won 27 votes against 10 for Riyadh, while eight countries abstained from voting.
Doha had hosted the Asian Games once before in 2006. The State of Qatar will host the 2022 World Cup for the first time in the Middle East.
President of Qatar Olympic Committee (QOC) and chairman of Doha 2030 Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad Al-Thani affirmed Qatar’s readiness to host the 2030 Asian Games in his speech in the bid presentation, saying the State of Qatar has worked for 20 years to build world-class sports facilities.
He added that Qatar built more than 200 sports facilities which had hosted more than 50 regional and international sporting events, and these facilities have gained the confidence of the various Olympic federations and committees, confirming Asian athletes can compete at the highest level.
The Asian Games is the largest tournament supervised by the Olympic Council of Asia, and it is the second largest multi-sport event in the world after the Summer Olympics – with more than 10,000 athletes from 45 Asian countries.
Doha hosted the 15th Asian Games in 2006, with the participation of the 45 member states of the Olympic Council of Asia – with 423 competitions organised across 39 sports.
Qatar has a strong track record in organising world championships – including the 2010 World Indoor Athletics Championships, IAAF World Athletics Championships in 2014, World Handball Championships 2015, UCI Road World Championships 2016, World Artistic Gymnastics Championships 2018, World Athletics Championships 2019 and the First World Beach Games Qatar 2019.
Qatar is set to organise a number of upcoming major tournaments – among which are the 2022 FIFA World Cup, the 2023 World Aquatics Championship, and the 2023 World Judo Championship.
Qatar Olympic Committee also announced it had formally submitted its request to the International Olympic Committee to join the continuous dialogue and non-binding on hosting one of the Olympic and Paralympic Games starting with the of 2032 edition.
The last edition of the Asian Games was held in Jakarta and Palembang, Indonesia in 2018, while the 19th edition will take place in Hangzhou, China, from Sept 10-25 in 2022; while the 20th edition will be held in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan in 2026.
– Bernama