Saudi Arabia wins bid to host 2029 Asian Winter Games at Neom

SAUDI Arabia said on Tuesday (Oct 4) it has won a bid to host the 2029 Asian Winter Games (AWG) at a planned mountain resort in the Gulf Arab state’s US$500 billion flagship Neom project.

The Trojena development is expected to be completed in 2026 and will offer outdoor skiing, a man-made freshwater lake and a nature reserve, said the project’s website.

“With the unlimited support by the Saudi leadership & His Royal Highness the Crown Prince to the sport sector, we are proud to announce we have won the bid to host AWG Trojena 2029 as the first country in west Asia,” sports minister Prince Abdulaziz Bin Turki Al-Faisal said on Twitter.

Neom is Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s most ambitious project under the kingdom’s Vision 2030 development plan to reduce reliance on oil and transform the economy, including by developing sports.

Neom, a 26,500-square-kilometre high-tech development on the Red Sea, will include zero-carbon city “The Line” as well as industrial and logistics areas. REUTERS