(eca023) Doha on way toward becoming global sportscapital (Feature)

By Peter Auf der Heyde Jan 30, 2011, 9:00 GMT

Doha - An advertising billboard in the centre of the Qatar capital of Doha proudly proclaims: Inspiring Qatar: The new global sports capital.

And while that might, on one level, be little more than ad-talk, it does have a certain ring of truth to it.

Of course the Qataris and Doha are still far from being the epicentre of world sport, but they have firmly established themselves on the global sports map and will continue doing so.

When FIFA announced in December that the oil-rich Gulf state would host the 2022 World Cup finals, it came as a surprise to many, but not to Qataris themselves.

Several global, continental and international sports competitions have been hosted - successfully - in Doha, like the world indoor athletics championships, the Asian Games, the Gulf Cup of Nations and the football under-20 World Cup.

Earlier this week the country was given the go-ahead to host the 2015 handball world championships.

Qatar hosts regular competitions in golf and tennis that attract some of the world's leading sportsmen and sportswomen.

The president of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), Mohamed bin Hammam, who is Qatari, said that their success in hosting the Asian Cup should come as no surprise.

'For those who doubted that we could host big competitions, especially the World Cup, this was an opportunity to see what we can do,' he said.

'We told people how comfortable they would be if the World Cup is hosted in such a small vicinity, and I hope people are now satisfied with what they have seen.'

The 61-year-old said that they had been proud of the way they had organized the Asian Cup: 'We are proud of the infrastructure and how much we can keep our promises.'

But it is not only the AFC officials who have been singing the country's praises - virtually all members of the delegations that are in the country to participate in the Asian Cup have given Qatar the thumbs up.

Iraq coach Wolfgang Sidka said that everything was very well organized and went off without a hitch.

'I am sure the country will have no problem in hosting a successful World Cup,' he said.

'Whatever still needs to be done, they will manage to complete well on time.'

Certainly there is plenty of evidence around that Qatar, whose citizens count among the richest in the world, will spare no expenses in ensuring that the country is placed on the world's sporting map.

Competitions are held in state-of-the-art facilities, that would be welcome in any country in the world, and the state is fully prepared to put considerable resources - and not only money - behind their attempts at pushing Qatar as a sports-hosting country.

That is also one of the reasons why Bin Hammam is not impressed with calls to change the date of the World Cup from June/July to the Qatar winter to escape the heat of the Qatar summer, when temperatures can soar to 50 degrees celsius.

'We have said we can organize the World Cup in June and July and we stand by that. The stadiums will be cooled and that is something which will benefit people beyond the World Cup,' the AFC boss said.

Australian coach Holger Osieck, whose team lost the final 1-0 to Japan on Saturday, said that the organization of the Asian Cup had been terrific and that he had faith in local organizers for the World Cup as well.

'The World Cup, is of course, something different. For one there are 32 countries participating, not 16, but I still think that they will be able to pull it off,' Osieck said.

And if they do, which seems likely, it could well be that the tiny country in the Gulf region is well on the way towards becoming the global sports capital - just as the billboard said.

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