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Qatar 2022 World Cup will go ahead as per schedule

Qatar assured that all the venues for the 2022 FIFA World Cup will meet the safety standards in the post-coronavirus scenario.

Qatar 2022

Bengaluru/Doha, June 6: The Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup organisers reassured that the tournament will go ahead as per schedule though many global events including the 2020 Tokyo Olympics have been postponed due to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

In a break from tradition, the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup was pushed back to a winter window because of the scorching summer temperatures in the Middle East country. The tournament is scheduled to be held from November 21 to December 18.

There has been widespread speculation that the Qatar 2022 World Cup might be put off, especially with a steady increase in the number of COVID-19 cases reported in the country daily.

However, Qatar's foreign minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani sought to allay such apprehensions while assuring that designs of the stadiums, will comply with any changes to health and safety guidance in the post-coronavirus scenario.

"We believe that Qatar is working very closely and strongly with different healthcare organisations to make sure to deliver a healthy and safe World Cup and believe that this is part of the cure for the world to be back together in a happy manner," Al Thani was quoted as saying in an interview with Sky News.

Qatar is building only eight stadiums for the one-month showpiece and are promising to deliver the completed venues two years before the kick off.

Work on two stadiums are already complete while the third one will be officialy unveiled on June 15.

Qatar 2022: Third World Cup Stadium is readyQatar 2022: Third World Cup Stadium is ready

Work on Qatar's eight World Cup stadiums and mega-projects linked to the tournament has continued despite the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.

Though the number of coronavirus cases in Qatar have gone up, the country has managed to keep the death rate low.

Qatar presses on with World Cup projects despite coronavirusQatar presses on with World Cup projects despite coronavirus

Al Thani assured that all the venues for Qatar 2022 will meet all the safety standards in compliance with post-COVID-19.

"There's an ongoing exercise with the organising committee, with different stakeholders, to make sure that all the health and safety standards are applied in all our stadiums, so it's still something ongoing.

"Once it's clear for all of us, I'm sure that we're going to put it out to the public," he added.

Qatar 2022 will be the first FIFA World Cup to be held in the Middle East and the entire Arab world.

Story first published: Saturday, June 6, 2020, 17:20 [IST]
Other articles published on Jun 6, 2020