Why Turkmenistan invested five billion dollars in sports

William D. Ezah, GNA Special Correspondent, Ashgabat, Turkmenistan

Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Sept. 18, GNA – Sports has indeed gone beyond recreation and is now considered a tool for national development, as many countries, continue to use sports as a catalyst for development.

Turkmenistan, – the 25-year-old state, located in Central Asia and a former member of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), has decided to join the sporting fray.

Having won independence in 1991, Turkmenistan has decided to join the list of countries that want to use sports to develop its state and also invest in the future generation of the people of Turkmenistan.

Turkmenistan, with a population of a little over seven million, has pumped a whopping five billion dollars into the organization of the 5th Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games, currently underway in their beautiful capital of Ashgabat.

And one may ask, why will the oil and gas rich country make such an investments into sports? The answer is simple, it is part of their development agenda, which started seven years ago.

With the decision to host the 5th Asian Indoor and Martial Games, Turkmenistan, can boast of a new Olympic stadium, modern international airport, five 5-Star hotels and shopping malls.

Old roads have been redesigned, new once constructed, new residential apartments and hostel facilities built, all within a spate of seven years.

The capital, Ashgabat is entirely a new and modern city, which will definitely be the envy of any developing nation – well laid-out and could pass as one of the cleanest cities in the world.

For the people of Turkmenistan hosting the event and building new infrastructure is part of their development agenda, not for today’s generation, but generations to come.

“What we have done is not only about sports, but it is related to the development of the country. It is aimed at changing the life style of our people and the future generation will benefit from the legacy of the Games”.

“We do not want to quantify the cost of hosting the event, because we have also factored the cost of constructing new roads, new hospitals, schools, hotel and hostel accommodations, new sporting facilities and a new Olympic stadium. These are for the future generations of the country,” said Sheikh Ahmad Al Fahad Al Sabah, President of Olympic Council of Asia (OCA).

The people seem so excited about the competition and had filled the various stadia with their families to witness different events, interact with participants, by signing autographs and taking pictures.

“As you can see our people are happy to be part of this historic ceremony. It is the first in their lives and they are making the best out of it,” Sheikh Ahmad Al Fahad Al Sabah said.

The country seems to have achieved so much hosting this event, but there is more to come. They are preparing to enter into serious competitions with other countries that may be bidding for major international sports events.

From all indications, the Asian Games is right on their mind, after other Federation of International Football Association (FIFA) events will follow.

Having built their infrastructure, the next step is to make profit from hosting sports events as stated by Sheikh Al Sabah.

“We want to follow the footsteps of countries like Qatar, who invested heavily in infrastructure and are today making profits from hosting sports events,” he noted.

It is now very obvious that, the intention of the 5th Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games, is not just about sports but the overall development of Turkmenistan and also to lay a foundation for major international events in sports and the flamboyant Olympic standard opening ceremony testifies to that.

GNA

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