Rubgy World Cup Sevens in Dubai
The Rugby World Cup Sevens is underway in Dubai, UAE. The championship began on March 4th and concludes on the 7th. Dubai hopes that a successful event will help restore its tarnished reputation. Last month the emirate refused a visa to an Israeli tennis player scheduled to compete in the Dubai Tennis Championships.
Organized by the International Rugby Board, the World Cup Sevens is held every four years. This is the first year it is being held in the United Arab Emirates. The winners receive the Melrose Cup. in 2005, Fiji took home the cup after defeating the New Zealand team in Hong Kong. The event will be broadcast live in 200 countries. The global audience is expected to be 400 million.
Dubai has build a reputation over the last few years of welcoming international athletes in a variety of professional sports. The emirate hosts the world’s richest horse race, the Dubai World Cup, as well as major golf and tennis tournaments. The city of Dubai is also the home of the International Cricket Council.
The booming metropolitan area is committed to expanding its presence in world sports. The city has seen an explosion in development of not only 5 star Dubai hotels and resorts, but also in sports venues. Currently under construction is Dubai Sports City, a 50 million square foot complex expected to cost $3.6 billion. It wil feature a championship golf course as well as an international cricket academy and the first soccer school by Manchester United.
A successful Rugby World Cup Sevens will go a long way towards restoring the region’s reputation in the international sports arena. Following last month’s banning of Shahar Peer from entering the country, the tennis championship lost several sponsors, including television coverage, and was threatened with lose the right to hold future events. Several top international players also boycotted the championships in protest.
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