The Qatari capital Doha will host the 2030 Asian Games while the other middle eastern candidate Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, will stage the 22nd Asian Games four years later, the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) announced on Wednesday.
Doha was finally announced as the winner after a vote by 45 OCA member committees at the 39th OCA General Assembly held virtually in Muscat, Oman, after repeated delays caused by problems with the online voting system.
As per the decision made earlier by the OCA executive board, Riyadh, coming in as the runner-up in the vote, was awarded the 2034 edition.
“I will be glad to have two games in west Asia, to be honest,” said OCA President Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah.
Qatar hosted the 15th Asian Games in Doha in 2006, but Saudi Arabia has never organized an OCA multisport event.
The next two Asian Games will be held in East Asia, China’s Hangzhouin 2022 and Japan’s Aichi and Nagoya in 2026, before the Games moves to West Asia.
