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Doha will host the 2030 Asian Games, the Asian Olympic Council announced on Wednesday, while Riyadh was named the venue for the 2034 edition under a compromise agreed between rivals.
A meeting of the executive board of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) unanimously approved the proposal to name the runner-up in the two-horse race for the 2030 games as the 2034 host.
The decision means that Qatar will host the multi-sport event eight years after it hosts the final of the 2022 soccer World Cup.
“Now I can announce … that the city that had the highest vote and will host 2030 is Doha,” said OCA President Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah.
“The second host city, for 2034, is Riyadh.”
The vote was delayed hours after technical problems with the online system, implemented to allow some national Olympic committees to participate remotely due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“I apologize for the technical problem that we faced during our vote,” Sheikh Ahmad said.
“Today the difficult things have been solved and the easy things have been problems.”
“To be honest, I will be happy to have two games in West Asia,” added Sheikh Ahmad.
Twenty-seven votes were for Doha, 10 for Riyadh and eight were abstentions, according to an official count.
Saudi Arabia and Qatar are locked in a bitter dispute after a Riyadh-led alliance of countries cut diplomatic, economic and transport ties with Doha in 2017, accusing it of backing radical Islamists and Iran.
‘A national priority’
Qatar denies the charges and there has been progress to reconcile the dispute in recent weeks with all parties praising the Kuwait-led mediation.
Before the vote, the OCA president said he was looking for a win-win situation for Doha and Riyadh.
Doha hosted the Asian Games in 2006, while Saudi Arabia has never hosted an OCA multi-sport event.
“Our goal is simple. We want to see more Asian athletes in the future, on future Olympic podiums, ”said the head of the Qatar Olympic Committee, Joaan bin Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, before the vote.
“We want that to be part of their national sports history, not just ours. And we want to support them in their efforts to achieve this. ”
Qatar is also participating in the bidding process for the 2032 Summer Olympics.
A video showed the large amount of Qatari sports and transportation infrastructure that was being prepared ahead of the 2022 World Cup that would be reused for the 2030 games. The games will have a budget of $ 1.3 billion.
“We are happy with our victory to host the 2030 Asian Games,” Qatari ruler Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani tweeted.
“# Doha2030 … embodies Qatar’s sporting mission as a means of enhancing human and cultural communication and understanding.”
The Doha bidding team claimed that 90 percent of the infrastructure for the 2030 games was already in place.
The president of the Saudi Arabian Olympic Committee, Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al-Faisal Al-Saud, said that “when we say that the games are a national priority, we mean it.”
“He has unwavering political and public support,” he said.
“Sport has changed social life in the kingdom, especially for women.”
Prince Abdulaziz noted that Saudi Arabia staged major boxing matches and planning for next year’s Formula 1 as proof of the kingdom’s readiness for the Asian games.
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