FINA president praises Sheikh Hamdan Sports Complex

Dr. Julio Cesar Maglione, President of the Federation Internationale de Natation (FINA), the international governing body for swimming and applied water disciplines, which is overseeing the 10^th FINA World Swimming Championships (25 metres) at the Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Sports Complex has rated the facilities at the complex as the best in the world.

He was talking to the press while paying a visit to the Dubai Municipality, which executed the swimming complex project. Eng. Hussain Nasser Lootah, Director General of Dubai Municipality along with Mohammed AbdulKarim Julfar, Assistant Director General for Corporate Support Services Sector and other officials welcomed the FINA chief.

Maglione said the venue of the 10^th World Swimming Championships is an extra ordinary complex, which is no doubt the best in the world. "It is a beautiful building. The facilities for swimmers, coaches and the press are extra ordinary. It is an excellent championship as the complex is giving the spectators also very good comfort," he said.

Maglione is full of praise about the group that worked behind the project. "Dubai Municipality team that designed and executed the project had done really excellent work. It is one of the beautiful pools in the world as regards the design, colour and lighting systems are concerned," he said.

"We have set a world record as regards the number of participants are concerned. There are 153 countries from five continents participating in this championship," he pointed out.

Maglione is also very much impressed about the organising team in Dubai. "The team has worked very hard. All aspects of the organization of the event, such as transport and the attitude of the people, are excellent," he said.

Maglione also praised the city planning in Dubai. "The city is beautiful, which can match any other world cities. Now, you can host any international sporting event here," he said.

Lootah said the project was a big challenge. "It was a very difficult task. We took it as a big challenge to finish the work in time. All our engineers worked hard," he said.

Lootah also thanked the helpful attitude of the FINA people, who gave timely advice during the construction of the swimming project.