Dubai is ICSD president’s favorite to host Deaflympics 2021

LONDON: Dubai is the personal preference of the president of the International Committee of Sports for the Deaf (ICSD), Valery Rukhledev, to stage the 2021 Deaflympics, ahead of the newly-announced 2028 Olympic Games host city of Los Angeles.
Speaking at an overall evaluation meeting following this year’s edition in Samsun, Turkey, Rukhledev confirmed the two front-running candidates to stage the event in four years’ time — and disclosed his own opinion that the emirate should be selected ahead of LA.
Deaflympics, which is recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) , is held every four years and sees deaf athletes compete at an elite level.
Wherever the event ends up in 2021, the organizers of that particular Deaflympics will have to go to great lengths to surpass the recently concluded games in Turkey, Rukhledev said.
“I attended Melbourne 2005. That Deaflympics was a very good one. I thought there would be no better Deaflympics,” Rukhledev said.
“Then, Taipei 2009 was better. I was very surprised and — again — I thought: ‘It will not be any better than this.’
“But Deaflympics Samsun 2017 succeeded to raise the level once again. When we look at facilities, information flow, technology and many other aspects, I can say that Turkey has organized the best Deaflympics in history.”
Central to that final assessment was the haste with which the infrastructure all came together, with Rukhledev adding: “Turkish officials told us they’d like to host the Deaflympics in Samsun, not Ankara, but there weren’t many facilities in Samsun.
“They promised us all facilities would be completed on time, but we were worried because we had little time.
“To see the speed of the construction in every next visit surprised us. Turkey completed facilities compliant to international standards in a very short time. I will always remember this.”