International Olympic Committee continues closed door meetings with Almaty 2022

Almaty, Feb 18 (IANS)

The International Olympic Committee (IOC)'s Evaluation Commission continued closed door meetings with the Almaty 2022 Olympic bid committee, but Kazakhstan's Prime Minister Karim Massimov failed to present his government guarantees in person to the IOC inspectors. Thirty speakers from Almaty 2022 Tuesday spoke on topics around Paralympic Games, legal aspects, Games safety, security and medical services, marketing, finance and political and public support, but Massimov, who is also chairman of the bid committee, was unable to attend, reports Xinhua.

"He is in Astana and can't participate in the working commission," Almaty 2022 vice chairman Andrey Kryukov told an evening press briefing.

Kryukov said that the prime minister will be present at the final presentation in Kuala Lumpur July 31.

A new IOC survey had found national public support for the Olympic bid at 75 to 78 percent, with only 10 percent against, Kryukov revealed.

"We will reduce this to zero," Kryukov said.

Regarding the cancellation of planned bid presentations from Almaty and Beijing at the SportAccord Convention on Sochi in April, Kryukov denied that it is a blow to Almaty's bid.

"In reality it is not a problem," he said.

"We will be present there at SportAccord, our team will travel there. We'll talk to the people there, but the presentation, the IOC now applied the rules and the recommendations of Agenda 2020 to reduce expenses of the bidding cities."

Almaty and Beijing now have only two more opportunities to present to IOC members at a special session in Lausanne June 9 and at the final election July 31 in Kuala Lumpur.

Following a gala dinner Tuesday night, the IOC Evaluation Commission will conclude its five-day inspection Wednesday.