Olympics: Qatar to continue bidding

DOHA: Qatar will keep bidding for the summer Olympics despite having failed to make the cut in the race to host the 2016 and 2020 Games, according to the country’s Olympic Committee. “We will continue on that path and we will continue to bid,” said the Qatar Olympic Committee’s General-Secretary Saoud bin Abdulrahman al-Thani. “Every time we bid, we are listening and learning to see how we can make our bid stronger. Our 2020 bid was stronger than our 2016 bid because the IOC (International Olympic Committee) executive board accepted our plan to host the Games in the October window, which didn’t happen the first time.” Qatar has already won the right to host the 2022 soccer World Cup, a controversial decision, which it plans to stage in summer inside air-conditioned stadiums to cope with the searing heat.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 16^th, 2012.