Saudi Arabia has been designated on Tuesday to host the 2029 Asian Winter Games, the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) announced.
The events will take place in Neom, a futuristic city construction project located in the northwest of the country, near Jordan, Egypt and Israel.
After the Football World Cup which begins in a few weeks in Qatar, a new challenge awaits the Middle East.
“The deserts and mountains of Saudi Arabia will soon be a playground for winter sports,” the OCA said in a statement, adding that the decision had been taken “unanimously” at its assembly. General in Phnom Penh (Cambodia).
“I never believed that I would ski one day in my country”, reacted the Saudi alpine skier Fayik Abdile, quoted in the press release of the organization.
Located on the shores of the Red Sea, the Neom project, worth nearly 500 billion dollars and carried by the powerful Crown Prince Mohamed ben Salmane, has been much talked about since the first announcement made in 2017. Asian Winter Games should precisely take place in Trojena, a mountainous sector of Neom "where temperatures drop below zero degrees in winter and where temperatures throughout the year are generally 10 degrees lower" than the seaside , say the promoters on their website, without mentioning the question of precipitation.
Trojena, which should be completed in four years, will include year-round ski slopes, an artificial freshwater lake, chalets, mansions and luxury hotels, according to the same source.
Mohammed ben Salmane, also Chairman of the Board of Directors of Neom, promised with this project to "redefine mountain tourism in the world", while respecting the principles of eco-tourism.
The director of Neom, Nadhmi al-Nasr, for his part affirmed that Trojena would be equipped with “adequate infrastructures to create a winter atmosphere in the heart of the desert, and to make these Winter Games an unprecedented world event”.
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Get ready for the Asian Winter Games in Saudi Arabia in 2029. It's official...
See you at #TROJENA, the "mountain" district of @NEOM, the project 🇸🇦 for a 100% renewable energy/hydrogen region at 500 billion. pic.twitter.com/tIkvwSlipZ
— Mikaa Mered (@Mikaa_H2) October 4, 2022
Architects and economists have however questioned the feasibility of the project.
The Asian Winter Games include competitions in skiing, snowboarding, ice hockey and figure skating, totaling 47 events, including 28 on snow and 19 on ice, according to the OCA.
Sporting events have multiplied in recent years in Saudi Arabia, accused by NGOs of wanting to divert attention from human rights abuses in the kingdom.
In an interview with AFP, the Saudi Minister of Sports, Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al-Faisal, recently mentioned his country's desire to organize one day the Olympic Games.
An Egyptian official meanwhile said last month that Egypt, Greece and Saudi Arabia had started discussions on a possible joint bid for the FIFA World Cup in 2030, on which they notably positioned themselves in a joint candidacy Portugal, Spain, and soon Ukraine.