Bahrain to create world-class aquatics sports complex
The new centre of excellence will give elite athletes the highest international-standard facility
World Aquatics and the Bahrain Olympic Committee (BOC) have announced plans to build a state-of-the-art aquatics sports centre in Bahrain, in partnership with GFH Financial Group and the Bahrain Swimming Federation.
The partnership will see World Aquatics establish the Centre of Excellence and regional office for Aquatic Sports Centre at The University of Technology, Bahrain (UTB). The plan, which is set to give a boost to the Kingdom’s PPP strategy, also includes new pools capable of hosting events in five of the six World Aquatics sports: swimming, water polo, artistic swimming, diving, and high diving. The sixth sport, open water swimming, is already a popular one with several events held on Bahrain’s beaches.
World Aquatics currently has operating development centres in Thanyapura (Thailand), Dakar (Senegal), Cape Town (South Africa) and Davie (Florida, USA).
With this new centre, World Aquatics’ elite athletes will have access to the best standards of training in an international-class facility. These athletes will also receive on-site coaching and educational support through World Aquatics’ Development programmes.
In mid September 2022, Miral announced that SeaWorld Abu Dhabi would open in 2023 and, in early January 2023, officials said that secondary infrastructure works had begun at key plots in Diyar Al Muharraq.
World Aquatics President Husain Al Musallam commented, “World Aquatics could not have asked for better partners than in Bahrain, as demonstrated by our bold plans for a centre of excellence here that will serve as an example to the world. Our high-performance athletes are at their best when they can benefit from the right mix of facilities, coaching and sports science. World Aquatics is determined to ensure that this mix is available to athletes from all our national federations. And we are delighted to include an educational component with the help of the UTB.”
He concluded, “Aquatic sports are universally important. Both the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 and the World Aquatics Championships Budapest 2022 saw over 180 nations represented. We are grateful to Bahrain and to the hosts of our other development centres for their help in ensuring aquatics athletes everywhere have the chance to fulfill their true potential.”
In late January 2023, it was announced that the construction of a key highway to East Sitra was on track for scheduled completion.
