Çakır is convinced that there is a "huge potential" for the Games that were inaugurated 17 years ago to grow.

Konya in Turkey is staging the fifth edition of the quadrennial event and playing host to more than 4,000 athletes who are competing across 19 sports.

The Islamic Solidarity Games had been scheduled to be held last year only to be moved back 12 months due to disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Çakır admitted that he did not expect so many athletes to compete at Konya 2021 due to a busy sporting calendar but believes the high number of participants demonstrates the popularity of the Games.

"There are a lot of multi-sport events in the world, but when you see the structure of the Islamic Solidarity Games there is very good potential for a positive future," Çakır told insidethegames.

"We have countries from four different continents and a lot of them have very good athletes competing in different sports here.

"There is a very competitive field in all sports as we have world champions as well as European, Asian, African and Pan American champions.

"This is why I see such a huge potential for this event."

The Games were originally created to reinforce the values of Islam with the first edition held in Mecca in Saudi Arabia in 2005 only open to male athletes.

Women have since been allowed to compete as well as athletes who are not Muslim.

"You don’t have to be Muslim to be participate in these Games," said Çakır.

"All the athletes from member countries can take part in this event.

"When you check the importance of these countries in the international sporting community I think the future of the Islamic Solidarity Games is open.

"In my opinion, these Games will be in better levels in future.

"This is a very important event for Turkey.

"It has participated in all editions and in the previous edition in Baku [in 2017] Turkey had very good results and we are doing better here.

"This success and hosting the event will make our national sports community more focused on the Islamic Solidarity Games in the next editions."

Çakır confirmed that the Opening Ceremony of the Games on August 9 was a sellout with 9,500 tickets sold in less than half an hour.

The Konya 2021 official said the Opening Ceremony was also attended by leaders from seven countries as well as 30 Sports Ministers.

Some Islamic Solidarity Games events have attracted big crowds after organisers opted to make tickets free for the public.

"When you organised such an event in a city it is very important to get the people in," said Çakır.

"The legacy is the most important issue around hosting such a large event so we want people to benefit from this.

"There has been a lot of investment into this event but it is not the only event of the athletes or countries, it is also the event for the people of the host city.

"In the competition side, it is free for people.

"At the beginning we decided to put a limit on spectators because of COVID-19 so now we use two thirds of the seating capacity but in many sports we have had a good number of spectators.

"I have seen a number of Ministers from other countries as well as IOC [International Olympic Committee] members and IFs [International Federation] Presidents here.

"It is very good for us to have such kind of people in the city of Konya."