Saudi Arabia Postpones 2029 Asian Winter Games

Saudi Arabia's Olympic and Paralympic Committee and the Olympic Council of Asia announced on Saturday an indefinite postponement of the 2029 Asian Winter Games, originally scheduled for the kingdom's NEOM megaproject in the northwest mountains near the Red Sea.

The joint statement indicated that the event, awarded to Saudi Arabia in 2022, would be rescheduled to a later date yet to be determined. No specific reason was provided for the delay, though officials described the decision as resulting from extensive consultations aimed at supporting the long-term development of winter sports in the region. In place of the full games, Saudi Arabia plans to host a series of standalone winter sports competitions in the coming years to build athlete pipelines, enhance infrastructure and increase regional participation.

The games were set to take place in Trojena, a planned year-round ski resort within NEOM, a $500 billion initiative to construct a futuristic city with a projected population of 9 million. Trojena, envisioned as a hub for outdoor activities including artificial snow-based skiing in an arid area with no natural precipitation, has been central to the project's ambitions....