The FINA World Short Course Swimming Championships that will take place in the UAE capital in 2020 will be an outdoor event, according to Abu Dhabi Sports Council secretary general Aref Al Awani.
Abu Dhabi won the right to host the event last July but it was unclear where the championships would be staged considering the city does not have a swimming arena like Dubai’s Hamdan Sports Complex.
Speculation suggested a new arena will be built for the event but Al Awani assures it would not be economically smart to construct an entire facility just for one competition.
“It will be an outdoor event and we’ll be setting up a temporary space for it,” Al Awani told Sport360.
“Considering we already have a big set-up for swimming in Dubai (the Hamdan Sports Complex), the idea we presented to the world governing body of swimming, FINA, was to introduce something new in the sport here in the UAE, something different. So it’s going to be outdoors.
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“Where and when, that’ll be announced in due time, but it won’t be costly and we won’t build an arena for swimming. Because it is not logical or economical for us to build an arena for one championship.
"The nature of the events we host always depends on utilising existing facilities here in Abu Dhabi and that’s what we’ll be doing.”
This will be the second time the short course Worlds will be staged in the UAE. Dubai hosted the 2010 edition which witnessed the official inauguration of the Dh1.1billion Hamdan Sports Complex facility.
While Dubai has since then played an active role in the international aquatics calendar, hosting a stream of FINA Swimming World Cups, the World Junior Swimming Championships, the Diving World Series along with numerous water polo competitions, Abu Dhabi is only just starting to strengthen its ties with FINA.
Last March the emirate hosted a FINA 10km Marathon Swimming World Cup (open water), which will return next season, and high diving will make its Abu Dhabi debut with the FINA High Diving World Trophy set to take place in the capital on February 27, 2016.
