(Reuters) - Qatar will host the inaugural World Beach Games later this year after Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) awarded the Gulf state the rights two weeks after San Diego withdrew because of lack of funding and sponsorship.
The Qatar government has offered the financial guarantees San Diego was unable to secure, ANOC said in statement, and the Games will go ahead at the slightly later date of Oct. 12-16.
"There will also be no impact on the ongoing qualification process which has seen more than 70 NOCs qualify across the 14 sports, with athletes from up to 90 nations ultimately expected to compete," the statement added.
San Diego was awarded the Games in 2015 and they were originally due to be staged in 2017 but that was put back to 2019 to allow National Olympic Committees (NOCs) and international federations time to prepare athletes.
(Writing by Nick Mulvenney, editing by Sudipto Ganguly)
