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Bahrain is all set to take centre stage when the World Memory Championship event takes place once more in the kingdom.
Competitiors from across the globe will be flying in to compete and the island's central position makes it an ideal location for such international events, according to visiting executives.
Two officials from the World Memory Championship (WMC) and World Memory Sports Council (WMSC), recently visited Bahrain to make final arrangements for its 17th annual event, set to take place at the Gulf Hotel's International Convention Centre from October 23-26.
Chris Day, general secretary and Phil Chambers, chief arbiter of the WMSC held meetings with Intelnacom, the event's host as well as representatives of local event management company MICE Management, who have been appointed to organise the event.
After viewing the venue, Mr Day was full of praise, saying: "We are confident that the kingdom will, once again, prove to be the ideal location after the great success of last year's event when our championship was held in Bahrain for the first time.
"Competitors are coming from all over the world to take part in this amazing contest and Bahrain offers fantastic facilities and, what's more, is centrally positioned to accommodate an expected 100 competitors flying here from different continents."
The very first winner of the contest was Dominic O'Brien from England who went on to become eight times World Champion. The 'Mind Sport of Memory' continues to grow in popularity and more than 16 countries will be represented in Bahrain this year.
The disciplines undertaken during the championships are not culturally or language specific to ensure a level playing field for international competition. Subjects include spoken numbers, playing cards, dates, abstract images, binary digits, random words and names and faces. Overall, the annual event represents one of the toughest mental tests of all time with competitors being asked to memorise 4,000 digit numbers and recall with absolute accuracy at least 10 packs of cards in one hour.
Fuad Mubarak, deputy CEO of Intelnacom, said: "Once again it is a privilege to have the World Memory Championships held in Bahrain and we look forward to more exciting challenges this year at this event and during Bahrain's own Festival of the Mind which will take place in conjunction with the championship."
The organisers are also introducing an inter-schools challenge for sudoku, dama, chess and Scrabble.
There will also be an inter-university challenge and an Inter-Gulf challenge to attract competitors from all over the region.
