By Nick Butler at the Olympic Council of Asia Headquarters in Kuwait City

Sheikh Ahmad has led attempts to launch the World Beach Games in 2015 ©ITGMarch 30 - Discussions will be held here during tomorrow's Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) Executive Council meeting on the composition of the World Beach Games ahead of a further announcement in July.


Plans for a World Beach Games to be launched next year as a collaboration between ANOC and SportAccord were exclusively revealed by insidethegames last October.

Since then there has been enthusiasm from various quarters and ANOC President Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah revealed to insidethegames here today that a final announcement concerning location and timing will be made after details of the project have been officially presented to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Executive Board meeting, due to take place on July 8 and 9 in Lausanne.

The World Beach Games is viewed very much as a personal desire of Sheikh Ahmad, who is also President of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) and has been a key pioneer of beach sport in the world's largest continent.

He revealed earlier this year that he wanted the fourth Asian Beach Games, due to be held in Phuket in Thailand in November, to "pave the way" for the global event.

He has found an enthusiastic ally in Marius Vizer - elected last May as the new President of SportAccord - who is here to hold discussions about the format. 

Among the events expected to be included on the programme of the first World Beach Games are basketball, beach football, beach handball, beach rugby, beach tennis, beach volleyball, kiteboarding, surfing and a modified version of triathlon.

The biannual Asian Beach Games began in Bali in 2008 and have since visited Muscat and Haiyang ©Getty ImagesThe biannual Asian Beach Games began in Bali in 2008 and have since visited Muscat and Haiyang ©Getty Images



IOC President Thomas Bach, who spoke alongside Sheikh Ahmad today, was also optimistic about the event, which he considers as one of the dimensions of ANOC's and SportAccord's major contribution to the Olympic Movement.

He revealed the prospects of the Beach Games were raised at the Olympic Summit in November last year, where a multi-sport events working group was agreed upon.

"I guess that once the consultations within ANOC have finished, then they will be brought to the working group and then their consultations will continue with us and the National Federations," Bach said this morning. 

"Talks will also take place within the IOC about how it will fit into the calendar and how it fits into the discussion about the composition of the Olympic programme."

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January 2014: Asian success will pave the way for World Beach Games, predicts Sheikh Ahmad
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