Qatar bags the right to host 2030 Asian Games

Doha will host the 2030 Asian Games and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia’s capital, has been awarded the 2034 edition. This means back-to-back Games will be held in West Asia.

An Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) Evaluation Committee led by Andrey Krukov from Kazakhstan inspected the candidate cities of Doha and Riyadh during Wednesday’s 39th OCA General Assembly in Oman.

Qatar and Saudi Arabia had been competing to host the 2030 event, but the OCA took the decision on a double award, meaning the city with the most votes would get the 2030 Games and the runner-up would receive 2034.

The vote took place amid a bitter and long-running political dispute between Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Saudi Arabia is one of four countries which has imposed a trade and travel boycott on Qatar since 2017. Doha got 27 votes compared to Riyadh’s ten. There were eight abstentions.

The vote on Wednesday was repeatedly delayed by problems with the electronic voting system with many delegates taking part remotely amid the pandemic.

That means no winner, no loser, OCA president Sheikh Ahmad al-Fahad al-Sabah of Kuwait said, thanking the Saudi and Qatari Foreign Ministers and conference host Oman for helping to broker the agreement. Qatari bid officials wore masks and waved flags as they celebrated together. Vote totals were not immediately announced.