Competition and Ceremony for ANOC World Beach Games

(ATR) The invitation reads ‘Under the Patronage of His Highness Sheikh Tamin Bin Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani, The Amir of the State of Qatar’ the organizing committee of Qatar 2019 is pleased to invite you to attend the opening ceremony of the ANOC World Beach Games".

In addition to Sheikh Tamin -- an IOC member as well -- more than 1,200 athletes representing 97 countries are expected to attend the ceremony at the Katara Cultural Village Amphitheater. Temperatures are expected to be around 32C (about 90F), comfortable by Doha standards for a Saturday evening.

Ahead of the ceremony, competition in kata karate, beach tennis, beach handball and 4x4 beach volleyball are taking place throughout the day at the Katara Beach and El-Gharafa Sports Club venues. Beach socceris also underway with preliminary matches starting Friday.

Qatar gave the home nation fans something to cheer about on Saturday with consecutive beach handball victories over Uruguay, 19-18, 22-18.

The first medals of the games will be awarded in the 5km open water swim for both men and women early Sunday morning.

Some 350 medals are up for grabs over the coming days with athletes competing in 13 sports at four venue clusters in Doha. Skateboarding and sport climbing, which make their Olympic debut in Tokyo 2020, are part of the Doha 2019 program. The event concludes Oct. 16.

The two day annual assembly of the Association of National Olympic Committees follows the beach games. It’s up to ANOC to decide on a long term plan for the event. Originally scheduled for the U.S. city San Diego, the games were moved to Doha three months ago when San Diego could not come up with sufficient funding.

Written and reported by Brian Pinelli in Doha, Qatar.