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Saudi Arabia splits with IOC over staging Esports Olympics

Saudi Arabia and the International Olympic Committee have “mutually” ended a deal to jointly hold the Olympic Esports Games.

Instead, the IOC and the kingdom will pursue their own esports ambitions separately, Bloomberg reports.

The 12-year agreement, signed last year, was supposed to see Saudi Arabia host the inaugural Esports Olympics, a part of its ambition to be a global hub for gaming.

The kingdom held its second Esports World Cup over the summer, attracting more than 2,000 professional players from over 100 countries, and its Public Investment Fund has since signed a blockbuster $55 billion deal to take gaming company Electronic Arts private.

Qatar vies with Turkey, India, Indonesia to host 2036 Olympics

Qatar has officially entered the race to host the 2036 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad Al-Thani, President of the Qatar Olympic Committee, said competing for the games will build on the country’s success as the first Middle Eastern nation to host the FIFA World Cup soccer championship in 2022.

Having established prominence in international sports as a “central pillar of our national strategy,” Sheikh Joaan said Qatar already has 95% of the required infrastructure in place to become the first Middle East nation to host the Olympics.

Also competing for the 2036 games are India, Turkey, Chile and Indonesia.