AIPS congress starts in Qatar today

Qatar’s 2022 FIFA WC, 2019 IAAF World Championship preparations among other important issues to be discussed

KARACHI: The 79th congress of the International Sports Press Association (AIPS), which starts in Doha on Sunday (today), will offer a perfect platform to Qatar to inform world media about the preparation, progress it has made and what more it plans for hosting the 2022 FIFA World Cup and the 2019 IAAF World Championships in Athletics.

Qatar would become the first Arab country to host the FIFA World Cup from November 21 to December 18, 2022. The same nation would also stage the 17th IAAF World Championships in Athletics from September 28 to October 6, 2019 at Khalifa International Stadium in Doha.

Qatar won the World Cup bid in 2010 in perfect style against United States, South Korea, Japan and Australia.

It also won the World Athletics Championships bid in November, 2014, by beating Spain and USA.

Although both the world showpieces remained under clouds due to various reasons but now the things have been settled down and Qatar is set to stage them. The oil-rich Qatar has already begun preparation for conducting the mega competitions in a befitting manner.

The hosts also plan to show the international media the infrastructure which is already in place and that which is under construction in the lead-up to the World Cup, the first to be held in the Gulf.

Realising the importance of sports Qatar has started focusing on hosting the major world sports events.

It had also tried to bid for 2016 Olympics but failed to win it from Brazil which is set to host it this summer in Rio de Janeiro.

The AIPS congress, which will last till February 11, will be formally inaugurated by Qatar’s Prime Minister Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani.

This is the second time that Doha is set to host the AIPS congress after it had hosted one in 2006, the year in which Qatar had also staged the Asian Games.

During the five-day congress, some special presentations on important matters would be made. The most vital would be the presentation on the 2022 World Cup, which is also called Qatar 2022.

The secretary general of Qatar Olympic Committee (QOC) Thani Al Kuwari and Nicolas Maingot, FIFA Director Communications and Public Affairs Division, would also present their papers.

A Qatari top governmental official, Massimiliano Montanari, will also deliver a paper titled ‘Save the Dream’.

Also to make presentations are Hassan Abdullah Al Thawadi of the Qatar Rail, who will speak on ‘The Supreme Committee of Delivery and Legacy’.

Others to make presentations include UEFA Head of Events Services Lukas Achermann, representative from Qatar Labour Ministry and Tourism, world athletics governing body (IAAF) Assistant Communications Director Anna Legnani and International University Sports Federation’s (FISU) president Oleg Matytsin.

Important presentations on the 2016 Rio Olympics, women sports and other burning sports issues would also be made.

Qatar is also set to spend billions of dollars on hotels, leisure, tourism, sports, recreation and other projects in the run-up to the World Cup. An entire rail network, a metro system, a new network of roads and that new city north of Doha are to be constructed over the next seven years.

The infrastructure being prepared for the mega events would also ensure perfect sporting environment for the Qataris for decades to come.

The AIPS congress will be followed by AIPS Asia Congress which will be held in the Bahraini capital Manama from February 11 to 13.

Pakistan’s experienced journalist Amjad Aziz Malik will also contest elections for the secretary slot of the AIPS Asia.