Qatar deserves to host World Cup: Arnie

Qatar is a deserving host of the 2022 FIFA World Cup and “will put on a show for the world to see”, famous American actor Arnold Schwarzenegger has said.During a visit to a sports festival in Melbourne, Australia, over the weekend, he also stressed that he would “love to attend” the 2022 World Cup in Qatar and it “would be an honour to be there”. He said: “As an athlete I love all types of sports, especially major ones, and it doesn’t get any bigger than the FIFA World Cup.” To Page 24Schwarzenegger visited the ‘We Love Qatar Stand’, an initiative of Aqeeq Holdings, at the Arnold Sports Festival in Melbourne, drawing huge crowds. The Hollywood legend received a raucous welcome at the Qatar stand from politicians, actors, athletes, media and screaming fans, who chanted “We love Arni -  we love Qatar”. The former governor of California took selfies with the fans and conversed with them before drawing two winning tickets to Qatar in a raffle draw. He then moved on to sign the ‘We Love Qatar’ wall, football and T-shirt emblazoned with a profile portrait of His Highness the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani.“It was crazy” explained Michael Ibrahim, Australian businessman and creator of the global #We are all Qatar phenomenon.When asked if he would like to visit Qatar, Schwarzenegger said: “I have always respected the people of Qatar. If the opportunity ever came for me to attend Qatar, I wouldn’t say no”.On Qatar hosting the World Cup, he said: “I hear so much about the new state-of-the-art stadiums Qatar is building and how fast it’s developing. I am sure they will put on a show for the world to see.”