Doha is remain in the race to host the 2020 Olympic Games

 Doha and four other cities — Baku, Istanbul, Madrid and Tokyo — will know how many of them would remain in the race to host the 2020 Olympic Games.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) will be selecting the Candidate Cities at the SportAccord Conference in Quebec City, Canada.

IOC Executive Board member Denis Oswald told Associated Press, “It isn’t really a question of numbers, it’s more a question of where do we’ve the least risks.”

The decision will be influenced by a technical evaluation report on the five cities compiled by a group of Olympic experts. According to Games insiders, there is no specific number of bids to be included on the Candidate Cities list, but many expect anywhere from three to all five making it through to the final selection of the Host City.IOC board member Craig Reedie said, “There’re some complications in all five Applicant Cities, which’ll make the decision interesting.”

In the past, the IOC used to set a benchmark score and then shortlist each bid that surpassed it. But this time around, it is not committed to this model and can include or exclude bids at its discretion.

In fact, for ’16, Doha performed above the benchmark and had a higher score than eventual winner Rio de Janeiro, but was excluded due to planned Games dates outside of the acceptable window. However, this time, the Qatari capital decided to bid only after the IOC gave it the green signal to propose a different window and this has raised hopes among its bid officials.

“We’ve done everything we possibly can to make our Bid File the strongest ever. We believe we’ve put forward the best file possible,” Doha Bid Vice-Chairperson Sheikh Saoud bin Abdulrahman Al Thani told Doha Stadium Plus.

Nevertheless, he is aware that it would not be easy to tilt the balance in Doha’s favour as various other factors — weather, geopolitics, economics etc — are at play.

“All bidding cities are equally strong. Hence, remaining in the race to host the ’20 Games will be a difficult task. We consider the overwhelming support from the Gulf and Arab regions as a huge positive.

“Our bid isn’t just for ourselves, but for the entire Middle East and North Africa region. It’s also about youth and women empowerment.

“This message is especially important against the backdrop of the Arab Spring. The winds of change are sweeping across the region and an Olympics in Doha will act as a tool for development of youth through sports,” he added.

This is Istanbul’s fifth bid and Madrid’s third in a row, starting from ’12. Japan was a strong contender for ’16, but after the ’08 Beijing Olympics and ’18 Pyeongchang Winter Games, it remains to be seen whether the IOC would be keen to take the event to East Asia.

Turkey’s bid for the ’20 European Football Championship could go against it as the IOC had made it clear that two major events would not be held in a country in the same year.

And coming to Madrid, the IOC will be watching with caution due to Spain’s shrinking economy.

The Candidate Cities are expected to be named at 18.30 local time (2230 GMT).