(MENAFN - Muscat Daily) Former Real Madrid defender Michel Salgado and Matthieu Reeb, secretary-general of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), are among the sporting personalities who will attend the inaugural Oman Sports Exhibition & Conference, to be held in Muscat from February 4-6.The three-day event, to be organised by the Ministry of Sports Affairs and Global Exhibitions & Conferences (GEC), will be a trade show where visitors will directly get to interact with suppliers of sports and fitness equipment, sports associations, clubs and other sports service providers. Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Fahd al Raisi, director of sports development & welfare at the sports ministry, said, ''The event will bring the country's youth, clubs, sports associations, sports companies and sports administrators all under one roof.''A total of 30 clubs, associations and companies will take part in the event at the Oman Exhibition Centre in Seeb. Raisi added, ''Six clubs - Fanja, Dhofar, Jalaan, Bukha, Rustaq and Al Arouba - have come forward to participate as well, in both the exhibition and the conference. I am happy with the number of sponsors we got this time, but I hope there is more support from the private sector next year as this will be an annual feature.''Salgado and Reeb apart, other notable speakers who will attend the day-long conference on the second day of the three-day affair are Stuart McInnes and Jirayr Habibian, veteran international sports law consultants and CAS arbitrators, Marc Theisen, president of the Luxembourg Olympic Committee and legal advisor of the European National Olympic Committees, and Carlo Nohra, CEO of the UAE Football League. Raisi pointed out that the presence of CAS officials will be important in the backdrop of last year's long-drawn legal wrangle surrounding the Oman Football Association's (OFA) board.He said, ''There will be a lot of exchange of ideas. We have seen recently the legal battle involving the OFA and the local clubs. That is the reason we have invited CAS experts to speak on sportsrelated legal matters.'' C J Paul, CEO of event organiser GEC, said, ''The exhibition will promote Oman as a sports hub of the future.'' H E Sultan bin Salim al Habsi, Secretary General of the Supreme Council for Planning, and H E Sheikh Saad al Saadi, the Minister of Sports Affairs, will inaugurate the exhibition.
