IOC to start Almaty 2022 inspections

Officials have arrived in Almaty ahead of the first International Olympic Committee (IOC) evaluation commission inspection of the 2022 Olympic and Paralympic candidates.

The 12-strong evaluation commission, headed by IOC Russian member Alexander Zhukov, will begin its work on Saturday. During their five-day visit, the IOC inspectors will examine the 14 themes of the IOC's candidature questionnaire, which include topics such as vision, legacy and engagement, transportation, accommodation, finance and sustainability, reports Xinhua.

The commission will also visit the competition and non-competition venues proposed in the bid.

Also on the evaluation commission are IOC members Barry Maister of New Zealand and two-time skeleton Winter Olympian Adam Pengilly of Britain, as well as Japanese Olympic Committee head Tsunekazu Takeda.

They will be joined by eight experts, all focusing on differing areas of preparations, while IOC Olympic Games Executive Director Christophe Dubi and IOC head of Olympic bid city coordination Jacqueline Barrett will also make the trip.

The IOC evaluation commission is due to visit Beijing from March 24 to 28.

The commission's report, highlighting the risks and opportunities of the candidate cities' projects and the athletes' experience, will be published prior to the IOC 2022 briefing for IOC members, which will take place June 9-10 and will be made available on the IOC's official website.