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News Round-Up: Royal Pledge From Dubai

Feb 5, 2010  - Craig Lord

Dubai: At a fruitful meeting between Cornel Marculescu, director of FINA, and members of the UAE royal family in Dubai this past week, the Arab state gave assurances that the world short-course show will go on this December as planned. Dubai met a deadline of February 1, by which it had to pay a $500,000 deposit as host of the winter showcase swimming event and has now pledged to host the event proper even if the venue has to be moved from the vast and partially completed aquatics complex being constructed in a desert location. 

it is understood that Princess Haya has been involved in discussions with FINA, something that was bound to have a positive income, given the clout and influence of FINA's host. The Princess is President of FEI - and also the wife of Sheikh Mohammed, the ruler of UAE. No surprise that Dubai would wish to honour its commitments and put on a great show for swimming at a time when it is weighing up the possibilities of making a 2020 Olympic bid.

In the detail, SwimNews understands that Dubai is ready to trigger its own plan B for the 2010 world s/c meet should there be any further delays to building works at the venue being built not only for 2010 but for the 2013 world long-course championships. The suggestion is that the meet this December could be held under a giant tented construction in the marina area of Dubai, with 5,000 seats overlooking a temporary pool, according to sources close to organising the marketing side of Dubai's many sporting events. Pretty spectacular a tented affair would be too, no doubt. Should Dubai's financial problems, which go hand in hand with the global financial downturn and associated banking crisis, result in long-term delays to construction of such mega projects at the sports complex in which the 2010 and 2013 swimming events were to have have been staged, Dubai may look at an alternative venue not only for 2010 but 2013 as well.

Paris: The Croix-Catelan pool that hosts the Paris Open at the Lagardère Paris Racing has been closed for building works since mid-October, the pace of the project raising concerns that the venue may not be ready in time for the Open on June 25-27 this year.  For the voice of calm and pragmatism, L'Equipe turns to one of the key organisers and former French international Christine Caron, who said: "Everyone's on edge but we're hopeful. We await confirmation [of a date when works may finish] but, pending that, there's no problem. Among big names said to be heading to paris this summer are Olympic champions Michael Phelps (USA) and Cesar Cielo (BRA).

Togo: In the monthly newsletter of the president of LEN, Nory Krutchen, he notes that a LEN - UNICEF delegation "made a very special visit to Togo in West Africa to be witnesses to what the jointly created LEN for UNICEF Programme has achieved and can and will continue to achieve in the near future." LEN General Secretary Sven Folvik, and Antoine Auer, Key Account Manager of Community (LEN’s Marketing Agency) were accompanied by Montserrat Povill of UNICEF, Donna Goodman of the Earthchild Institute, as well as by representatives of UNICEF-Togo on a tour from the capital city of Lomé to the northern town of Dapaong in the Savanes Region. "From there they visited villages where water tanks, latrines, hand-washing, and drinkable water spots have been installed thanks to funds collected through LEN’s and UNICEF’s collaboration. To be more precise, 50.000 euros have been used for four villages, and disease reduction measures and efforts to improve the health of children in Togo and provide better educational facilities for them. More info here.