FINA World Cup hosting a precursor to UAE World Aquatics Championships bid?

Dubai's hosting of the international swimming Federation (FINA) World Cup at the Hamdan Sports Complex in Dubai, which commences tomorrow, may be a precursor to the Emirate making a bid to host the 2025 World Aquatics Championships.

A schedule for swimming’s showcase event was agreed up to 2023 last year, with the World Aquatics Championships to be held in Budapest, Hungary in 2017; Gwangju, South Korea in 2019; Fukuoka, Japan in 2021 and Doha, Qatar in 2023.

The schedule for the event was thrown into turmoil early last year when the Mexican city of Guadalajara withdrew as the 2017 host, citing financial problems caused by falling oil prices.

Budapest, which had originally been awarded the 2021 World Championships, then stepped in at short notice to host the biennial event in 2017.

However, a new location for the 2021 event was needed, with Gwangju, South Korea, already confirmed for 2019.

China, Japan, Turkey and Qatar, along with Australia, Argentina and Germany – each of which later withdrew – were in the running to host the 2021 and 2023, with hosting eventually being awarded to Japan and Qatar.

As a result, Asia will host three successive World Championships: 2019, 2021 and 2023.

Given the growing cost of staging international sports events, which has led to a reduction in countries from Europe and North America bidding to hosy them, these consecutive Asian hostings reflect the rise of Asia as a venue for major events.

This trend is also seeing Qatar host the 2022 FIFA World Cup and Asian countries staging the next three Olympics and Paralympics - Pyeongchang 2018, Tokyo 2020 and Beijing 2022.

In swimming, Arabian Gulf nations have all been awarded short-course (25-metre pool) world championships - Dubai (2010), Doha (2014) and Abu Dhabi (2020) while Qatar’s hosting of the 2013 World Aquatics Championships will be a first for the region.

While Dubai was awarded the 2013 World Aquatics Championships, it later pulled out, with the event taking place in Barcelona instead. However, with a more experience in hosting major events, Dubai may well look to bid to host the event again, potentially leading to four consecutive hosting in Asia.

Image: The Hamdan Sports Complex's aquatic facility.

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