By Andrew Warshaw in Jordan.
May 13 – The head of Qatar’s 2022 world cup organising committee was forced to pull out of Asia’s first ever Soccerex forum today for unspecified reasons.
Hassan al Thawadi was due have delivered a key update on progress in the Gulf state but withdrew on the eve of the two-day conference on the banks of the Dead Sea, an unexpected blow for organisers of one of Asian football’s most eagerly awaited summits, attended by a raft of high-profile delegates from across the continent and beyond.
Al Thawadi, secretary general of the Supreme Committee for delivery and legacy and the public face of 2022, is understood to have been kept home on urgent business connected with the World Cup.
Sources close to al Thawadi, one of the main speakers at the summit, said his last-minute withdrawal would be explained more fully later but was for “positive” rather than negative reasons and had nothing to do with any investigation into the 2022 bid process that continues to generate widespread publicity.
His presentation on legacy and promises for the World Cup at the plush King Hussein convention centre was to be taken instead by 2022’s marketing and communications executive director Nasser Al Khater.
So unforeseen was al thawadi’s withdrawal,which even took his aides by surprise, that organisers had no time to change the conference programme . He was even welcomed in one of the opening soccerex speeches in front of a packed audience
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