Dubai: Dubai is prepared to take the one final step and make a bid to host a major sporting event, possibly an Olympic Games in the near future.
The second Middle East Sports Event Summit opened on Tuesday and two of the top sports officials associated with the event reiterated the readiness of the emirate in staging the top sporting spectacle.
Speaking at the opening of the two-day event, Hessa Al Kous, Sports Events Planning Manager, Dubai Sports Council (DSC), and Alastair Ruxton, Commercial and Legal Director, Falcon and Associates, held the view that Dubai has managed to build up towards a possible bid for an Olympic Games.
“Dubai is always up for the challenge. We have hosted some of the biggest sporting events in the past and we have a few more lined up in the future. The Expo 2020 is definitely right up there as a top event, and based on that, Dubai can really be on top of the challenges before us,” Al Kous told Gulf News.
Dubai has hosted some of the biggest and best sporting events around the year, including the regular ones such as the Dubai Tennis Championships, the Desert Classic golf and the IRB Rugby Sevens. In addition, the emirate has further consolidated its position by hosting one-off events such as the Fina World Championships, the Fifa Youth World Cup and the Fifa U-17 World Cup and the 2009 Fifa Beach Soccer World Cup, to name a few.
“The fact remains Dubai is ready for staging any event. We have the infrastructure, transportation and communications. We have the hotels. We have the complete package here, so with the backing of our leaders, I don’t see why we cannot bid for an event like an Olympic Games in the future,” she added.
“For the time-being we need to engage our local communities and we will see that the opportunities are endless.”
Ruxton, Head of Legal and Sport Competition Group Manager, The London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games Limited 2012, has been at the core of the Dubai Government’s ‘Ping Pong Dubai’ and ‘Shuttle Time’ initiatives in operation for the past couple of years.
“It’s a hard think for any country when it comes to debating about consolidation or bringing in new events. Either way, any event like the Ping Pong Dubai or Shuttle Time is worth in a lot of ways that are sometimes hard to measure. We have to think about events that are relevant in helping us reach out to communities and its people. It’s about using events in a smart way,” Ruxton said.
Earlier, Dr Ahmad Sa’ad Al Sharif, General Secretary, DSC delivered the keynote address.
Al Sharif hailed the support of the government in supporting various sectors such as infrastructure, tourism, transportation and communications that have seen Dubai being adjudged the second best host city at the annual Isem Awards in London at the end of last year.
