Saudi Arabia has revealed that hosting an edition of the Olympics is its “ultimate goal” while batting away accusations of sportwashing at the weekend.
Saturday saw the Saudi capital Jeddah receive the boxing community for Oleksandr Usyk’s second consecutive win over Anthony Joshua to retain the unified WBA, IBF, WBO and IBO heavyweight titles.
Putting on the bout represents part of a plan that the Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman unveiled six years ago in order to further boost his country’s economy and international reputation.
And while this has had the Middle Eastern nation face accusations of sportswashing and attempting to divert attention away from its alleged human rights abuses through putting on huge events such as boxing shows and the F1 grand prix, the Saudis are planning even bigger things as revealed by Sports Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al-Faisal to the AFP.
“Our main focus now is the 2034 (Asian Games),” which will take place two years after Brisbane,…