Aspire Dome, the world’s largest indoor multi-purpose dome, will play host to the 48th Artistic Gymnastics World Championships that Doha is set to stage from Oct. 25 to Nov. 3 for the first time in the Middle East region.
The championship, which serves as the first qualification event for the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics, is the world’s biggest gymnastics competition and, therefore, Aspire Dome was the logical pick as a host venue for an event of such magnitude, said Anis Saoud, Deputy Competition Manager of the world championships.
“With the big number of participants, we need six training halls, a warm-up hall and the competition hall. Aspire Zone is the only place in Qatar that englobes this kind of facilities,” Saoud said.
Aspire Dome has the capacity to host 13 different sporting events simultaneously. As part of Aspire Zone, it previously hosted the Asian Games in 2006, the 2010 IAAF World Indoor Championships, the 2011 Arab Games as well as an annual event in the Artistic Gymnastics World Cup series since 2009.
With nearly 700 female and male gymnasts from 83 countries competing in next month’s event, “the scale of the competition is really big and this creates a challenge in venue operation and site management,” said Feras Ahmed, Deputy Venues Manager of the 48th Artistic Gymnastics World Championships. 
One of the challenges that were bound to arise was meeting the requirements of the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) in terms of venue capacity.
“FIG requires a minimum of 6,000 Seats for the World Championships. That is why we will add 800 seats to reach that requirement,” Saoud said, adding that all the halls of Aspire Dome will be used for trainings and competition.
A few weeks ahead of the event, preparations are in the final stage to welcome gymnasts, officials and spectators to Aspire Dome. 
“The sport equipment should arrive in Hamad Port yesterday. The Sport Equipment Committee will start to install the different training halls, the warm-up hall and the field of play on Sept. 28,” Saoud added.
Qatar is only the first Arab country to host the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships. Only Japan and China have organised it in Asia and it was never held in Africa or South America.
Three Team Qatar gymnasts will be competing in the event against world class athletes.
Tickets for this unmissable event are available on Qatar’s sporting calendar at: https://bit.ly/2Nqcw9L