Top designer: Air-conditioned stadiums in Qatar an easy job

Beijing - While some people doubt the feasibility of Qatar's promise to build fully air-conditioned stadiums for the 2022 World Cup, a leading sports architecture company said the idea was not impractical.

"We have designed a number of stadiums that are fully air-conditioned around the world. So technically it's very easy to do," said Paul Henry, senior principal of Populous, which has designed hundreds of stadiums worldwide, including the Soccer City Stadium for this year's World Cup in South Africa. It will also take charge of the London Olympic Stadium.

"The challenge is to do that in an environmentally friendly way. I think Qatar will be very interesting in terms of this challenge," Henry told China Daily on Saturday in Beijing at the China International Sports Leadership Forum, which was co-organized by China Sports Culture Development Center and Global Sports and Entertainment Group.