Off the wire
• Pan-European offshore wind industrial alliance launched  • China 2 Portugal 2 - halftime  • Maldives ex-president's lawyers pledge to protect him from torture  • Portugal's starting lineup for Algarve Cup placing match against China  • Chinese national elected head of U.N.'s aviation arm  • Algarve Cup: China 2, Portugal 2 - halftime  • Slovak foreign trade records surplus in 2014  • Iran in tight schedule to tackle key nuclear issues with powers  • Xinhua world news summary at 1530 GMT, March 11  • Bulgarian parliament approves Rumiana Bachvarova as new Minister of Interior  
You are here: 　 Home

Budapest to host 2017 World Aquatics Championships

Xinhua, March 12, 2015 Adjust font size:

Budapest will be hosting the 2017 Aquatics World Championships, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban told a news conference on Wednesday, after signing the agreement with FINA (International Swimming Federation) Executive Director Cornel Marculescu.

Budapest, originally scheduled to hold the 2021 championships, and still planning to hold the Junior World Swimming Championships in 2017, agreed to stand in for Guadalajara, Mexico, which opted out because of financial difficulties.

Hungary has never organized an international event of this size before, Orban said. This will require a tremendous effort, he said, and we all need to cooperate. But if everyone does his or her job, it should run well.

FINA issued a statement to thank Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Hungarian Swimming Federation head Tamas Gyarfas for their "support and contribution" in organizing the global event.

Hungary's water polo team is world class, having won 15 Olympic and 10 world championships to date, swimmer Katinka Hosszu was voted FINA Swimmer of the Year in 2014, swimmer Daniel Gyurta is an Olympic gold medalist and swimmer Laszlo Cseh is a five-time Olympic medalist and 28-time European champion.

The World Aquatics Championships are held every two years. This year in Kazan, Russia, will be the host.

Events will include swimming, diving, open water swimming, synchronized swimming, and water polo. Endite