2023 Mediterranean Beach Games Attracts Bidders

(ATR) A record number of candidates want to host the third edition of the Mediterranean Beach Games in 2023.

Italy, which hosted the inaugural event in 2015 at Pescara, has put forth the city of Pesaro on the Adriatic coast this time around.

Larnaca, Cyprus and Figueira da Foz, Portugal are the other candidates. It’s the first time there have been three bidders to host the event.

Portugal is one of the member countries of the International Committee of the Mediterranean Games (ICMG) that does not border a part of the Mediterranean Sea. Should Figueira win the bid, it would mean the Mediterranean Beach Games would be held on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean.

The three bidders must submit their candidature files by Dec. 31 and should send them to each of the 26 member NOCs by January 7, 2020.

Τhe election of the host city will be conducted by electronic voting during the first week of February 2020.

The Mediterranean Beach Games were created in October of 2012.

The initial event held in 2015 at Pescara, Italy had 763 athletes from 24 countries competing in 11 sports. One-third of the athletes were women.

The Greek city of Patras played host to the second edition in August. Half of the 26 competing countries took home at least one medal. A little less than 35 percent of the 645 athletes taking part in 11 sports and 1 demonstration sport were women.

So far, hosting the Beach Games has been a recipe for medals success. Italy topped the medals table in 2015 and Greece in 2019.

The next Mediterranean Games will be held in 2021 in Oran, Algeria.

Written by Gerard Farek

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