Budapest: Doha will host the 2023 World Aquatics Championships, the International Swimming Federation (FINA) announced yesterday.
Japanese city of Fukuoka will host the 2021 edition.
The decision was made after a vote of the FINA executive committee in Budapest. The Chinese city of Nanjing was the third bidder for the organisation of these Championships.
Held every two years, the Aquatics include world championships in swimming, diving, synchronized swimming and water-polo.
They were held in the Russian city of Kazan last year and will go to Budapest in 2017 and Gwangju in South Korea in 2019.
“Both winning cities, Fukuoka and Doha, are strong partners of FINA and will offer optimal conditions for the organisation of these Championships. There is a very strong commitment from the local authorities to welcome this event in their respective dynamic metropolis,” FINA President Julio Maglione said while announcing the decision at a press conference in the Magyar capital:
Doha previously hosted the 2014 short-course World Swimming Championships, while Fukuoka staged the World Aquatics Championships event for the first time in 2001.
Speaking from Budapest, Secretary General of the Qatar Olympic Committee, Dr Thani Abdulrahman Al Kuwari, said: “It is an absolute honour for Doha to host the 2023 FINA World Championships and FINA World Masters Championships. We would like to thank FINA for the trust that they have placed in us and we guarantee to deliver on our commitments. Hosting the FINA Championships has been a longstanding dream of Qatar’s and we are committed to hosting a spectacular edition of the event, which will showcase the very best of aquatic sports and capture the attention of new athletes and new audiences, helping aquatics to grow and develop in a new region. We are very much looking forward to working in partnership with FINA over the years ahead.”
“The FINA Family has been many times in Doha and everyone knows our true passion for organising top-events. Sport is an important tool for the development of our youth and of our country. Hosting the FINA World Championships for the first time in Middle East will be a great way to develop Aquatics on a global scale,” he emphasised.
The Peninsula
