Riyadh (AFP)
The Olympic Council of Asia announced the selection of Saudi Arabia to host the Asian Winter Games in 2029, in the giant futuristic city of NEOM, which its organizers say will include a Winter Games complex.
“The deserts and mountains of Saudi Arabia will soon become a winter sports stadium,” the council said in a statement following its general assembly held in Phnom Penh.
The statement said that the Saudi file was approved “unanimously”, making Neom the first city in West Asia to host the Asian Winter Games.
The Asian Winter Games will be held in an area called Trogina in Neom; “It is characterized by different temperatures throughout the year. In the winter season, temperatures drop below zero degrees Celsius, while the temperatures are moderate and 10 degrees colder than the rest of the region,” according to the project website.
Work on Trogina will be completed by 2026, according to the project organizers, who said that the project will provide “a number of activities and events throughout the year, such as ski sports and a number of activities for adventure lovers.”
A huge freshwater lake and a village called “The Volt” will also be built, which will be built vertically.
“This is a great victory for the Saudi nation and the Gulf countries,” said the Minister of Sports and President of the Saudi Olympic Committee, Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al-Faisal, following choosing his country to host. This is due to the generous support provided to the Saudi sports sector, which greatly contributes to the advancement of sports and all other fields in the Kingdom, with the aim of achieving the goals of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030.”
“We thank the Olympic Council of Asia for giving us this opportunity. Trogina will be a year-round destination for winter sports and is fully funded and backed by government guarantees.”
He continued, “It will highlight the huge potential and infrastructure of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to successfully host and organize competitions and sports at the international level.”
The city, which was announced for the first time in 2017, is inspired by the atmosphere of science fiction films with flying taxis and working robots, but it raises questions among architects and economists regarding its feasibility.
Last July, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman unveiled plans to design The Line, the heart of the city of Neom, located on the Red Sea coast in northwestern Saudi Arabia.
The Asian Winter Games includes 47 competitions, including 28 on snow and 19 on snow.
Alpine skier Fayek Abdi, the first Saudi athlete to participate in the Winter Olympics, said when he competed in Beijing 2022, in a statement carried by the Olympic Council statement: “I did not believe that I would ski in my country. I am now looking forward to the Asian Winter Games in my country.”
For his part, NEOM CEO Nazmi Al-Nasr said: “Trogena will have the appropriate infrastructure to prepare the winter conditions in the heart of the desert, to make these Winter Games an unprecedented global event.”
Investing in sports is part of a multi-pronged strategy approved six years ago to diversify the oil-dependent economy.
