Even as heavy rains greeted Qatar yesterday, work went on at a hectic pace at the Aspire Dome with the Local Organising Committee (LOC) finalising last minute preparations for the 48th Artistic Gymnastics World Championships Doha to be held from October 25 to November 3.
The Aspire Dome was abuzz with activity with the main hall being given the final touches as also the media centre. Meanwhile, many athletes could be seen practicing at the training and warm-up halls.
Doha Worlds will be the first mega gymnastics championships to be hosted in the Middle East and the Organising Committee is leaving no stone unturned to make sure that the event is an unprecedented success in keeping with Qatar’s status in hosting major events.
Over 600 athletes from 78 countries, including six Arab nations, and a total of 1,400 other delegates of team staff and International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) officials will descend into Doha ahead of the opening ceremony to be held on October 25.
The Organising Committee has also moved its headquarters to Aspire Zone to oversee all preparations. Commenting on the preparations, Nasser al-Sulaiti, Director of the Finance Committee, said, “All the sub-committees of the Local Organising Committee are inter-acting in a very feasible manner to deliver an outstanding event for the world to witness.
“We have all the capabilities and we shall go the distance to ensure excellence and to make the championships a truly historic one. We are looking forward to bringing the championship to an unprecedented level that reflects Qatar’s high potential,” he stressed.
Around 300 foreign mediapersons are expected to cover the event which will be one of the fiercely contested editions in recent years as Simone Biles of the US, who took more than a year’s break, will return to action.
The tournament will be significant for the participating countries as medals won from the Team finals will earn an entry to the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.
The nominative roster released last week includes 265 men and 244 women gymnasts from 78 nations. Among the stars will be Japan’s 2016 Olympic All-Around champions Kohei Uchimura, who pulled out from last year’s edition in Montreal, Canada, following an injury during training session.
As many as 48 countries have entered for the men’s while 44 have been registered in the women’s category in the tournament – first qualification event for the Tokyo Games.
The medal-winning nations in the Team Final competition will earn automatic berths for 2020 Olympics while top 24 nations from team qualification will advance to the 2019 World Championships in Stuttgart, Germany.
The main hall of Aspire Dome which will host the 48th Artistic Gymnastics World Championships.
