The Dubai Sports Council (DSC) announced the line up including many of the world’s leading sports stars who will be joining Expo 2020 Dubai. The stars will be promoting their countries on the global stage and participate in numerous sporting events organised throughout the next six months.
In collaboration with Expo 2020 Dubai, Dubai Sports Council has organised several sporting activities and events on the side lines of the first World Expo to be held in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia region, which kicks off on 1 October, 2021.
The Council said that the 16th Dubai International Sports Conference (DISC) – a Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiative – and Dubai Globe Soccer Awards will take place during Expo 2020 Dubai. One of football’s main brainstorming platforms, DISC will bring the sport’s top stakeholders together to discuss challenges facing the ever-evolving world of football and deliberate ways to develop and enrich the sport at the domestic, regional and international level.
It was also confirmed by The Dubai Sports Council that the prestigious Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Creative Sports Award ceremony will also take place at Expo 2020 on 9 January, 2022.
A Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiative, the MBR Creative Sports Award is one of the leading initiatives of its kind in the world in terms of categories and prize money. The 11th edition of the Award will see Emirati and Arab heroes from the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games being honoured at a glittering Awards ceremony.
A number of other events will take place at Expo 2020, including the FIDE World Chess Championship 2021, which will see reigning world champion Magnus Carlsen battle challenger Ian Nepomniachtchi, between 24 November and 16 December, to keep his crown. The Hamdan Bin Rashid Masters international chess championship will be held concurrently, on the same dates as the World Championship and at the same venue.
The Expo 2020 Run takes place on 19 November, giving participants the unique opportunity to run on a course that snakes its way through the Expo 2020 districts and around different Country Pavilions. ‘Run the World’ community running events will take place every Saturday morning around Expo’s Ghaf Avenue, with complimentary participation open to all Expo 2020 visitors. Expo 2020 will also take centre stage on 25 February, 2022, when top international cycling teams and riders of the UCI WorldTour head to Expo 2020 for the Dubai stage of the tour.
Aside from the official competitions, visitors to Expo 2020 can take part in their favourite sport at facilities across the Expo site and at Expo’s dedicated Sports, Fitness and Wellbeing Hub, which includes a multi-purpose court for basketball, volleyball, tennis and netball; two cricket nets; an indoor gym and fitness hall; a five-aside football pitch; a Global Fitness Stage for yoga, Zumba and CRANK classes along with sports workshops, and events for people of determination.
The countries participating in Expo 2020 have also organised a number of sports-related events at the Sports, Fitness and Wellbeing Hub, many featuring some big names in sport.
Australia, a proud sporting nation, has scheduled more than 500 events at the Hub, while their trans-Tasman rivals New Zealand will have sports events stretching across five weeks including Les Mills Live fitness sessions. Croatia, meanwhile, will be bringing two of their top football stars, Real Madrid’s Luka Modrić and Davor Šuker, President of the Croatian Football Federation. Croatian NBA stars Dario Šarić and Bojan Bogdanović will also be meeting and greeting fans.
The Italy Pavilion team will organise fitness classes and workshops, while the Hungary Pavilion will host a tournament featuring teqball – a new ball-based sport – and present its programme for the development of school sports. The Football Legends Championship, courtesy of the Nigeria Pavilion, will allow fans the opportunity to meet players like Jay-Jay Okocha, Nwankwo Kanu and Mikel John Obi, as well as two-time unified world heavyweight boxing champion Anthony Joshua of the United Kingdom.
The Senegal Pavilion will host events to promote the Dakar 2026 Summer Youth Olympic Games – the first International Olympic Committee event to be held in Africa and the first in a Muslim-majority country.
Dubai will also host more than 30 international sports events during Expo 2020 across the emirate, including the men’s and women’s Rugby World Cup qualifiers in October and November, cricket’s Twenty20 World Cup, and the European Tour’s ‘Race to Dubai’ finale, the DP World Tour Championship.
News Source: Emirates News Agency
