SportAccord, ANOC Team for World Beach Games

SportAccord has confirmed its partnership with the Association of National Olympic Committees to launch the World Beach Games.

The agreement followed meetings between SportAccord president Marius Vizer and ANOC leaders in Kuwait earlier this week. The ANOC Executive Council was also held there

ANOC had initially announced it would launch the World Beach Games, appearing to throw into doubt SportAccord’s beach games, which has been on the drawing board for over a year and were earmarked to take place in 2015.

With no host city confirmed, ATR is told that 2016 is a more likely date for the games. Several European cities and a two outside the continent are said to be in talks to secure hosting rights.

"In the past, the World Beach Games, a SportAccord brand and multi-sports games event, was just an idea," Vizer said in a statement Thursday.

"Today, with the concept registered and finalized by SportAccord and the international federations, it has become a tangible project. SportAccord is particularly grateful to the IFs who collaborated so intensively and assiduously over the last few months to finalize the event program."

More than 23 sports will be on the sports program, he confirmed.

They are: American football, aquatics, boules, canoe, cheerleading, dragon boat, flying disc, football, handball, life saving, minigolf, motorcycle, powerboat, rowing, rugby, sailing, sport fishing, sub-aquatics, surfing, tennis, triathlon, volleyball, and waterski/wakeboard. A few other sports that expressed interest could also be added.

Vizer said SportAccord member federations, who gather in Belek, Turkey for the annual sports convention next week, had welcomed the partnership with ANOC to deliver the beach games.

"Recently, IOC president Thomas Bach expressed his optimism for the event, an event that he considers to be a great contribution to the Olympic Movement," he said.

Working groups and commissions from SportAccord and ANOC will soon be formed to prepare the groundwork for the event.

Vizer will update SportAccord members on the progress of the project as well as the organization’s World Urban Games and its other multisport events at the general assembly next week.

Written by Mark Bisson

Homepage photo: Getty Images

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