The quadrennial flagship event for international cricket is said to be one of the world’s most viewed sporting events. This year sees the competition return to England and Wales for the first time in 20 years, with host country England battling it out on day 1 against South Africa at The Oval, London.
The current reigning champions Australia, are the most successful team so far, winning 5 of the 11 tournaments since the format began in 1975.
On 29th May 2019, The ICC Cricket World Cup will open in style with the Opening Party. Held in Central London in front of Buckingham Palace on The Mall, music and culture will be broadcast globally to celebrate cricket. Keeping the live entertainment a total surprise, the ICC promises famous faces and a night to remember, that cricket and non-cricket fans will enjoy.
Cellhire will be expertly connecting media, teams and fans alike, with super-fast mobile data speeds, thanks to its partnerships with all of the UK’s leading mobile networks. It’s not too late to secure your connectivity, talk to an expert today.
Taking place in the largest country in South America, Brazil; 2019 will be the 46th tournament of the Copa América.
Since 1993, the 12 team line up has been be made up of 10 South American teams and two guest teams; this year Japan and Qatar have been invited to join, due to close links with the Asian Football Confederation.
This is Qatar’s debut appearance, becoming the first Arab nation to play in the tournament and will give the country exposure to a higher standard of football ahead of the 2022 World Cup to be hosted in Qatar.
Japan, having last played in 1999, will be making their second appearance and will be sending a full-strength, senior squad, after originally considering playing an under-23 team, in preparation of Tokyo 2020. Sending their best will strengthen the team on foreign soil and will put them in good stead for the Summer Olympics.
It goes without saying, Cellhire will be providing many local and international media, sponsors and teams with mobile connectivity for the duration of the tournament. If you’re yet to secure your connectivity, or are looking for a contingency solutions, speak to the Cellhire Events Team today.
The annual, multi-stage cycling event is fast approaching; and with the clock counting down until the peloton set off from the starting line, excitement for the event is building fiercely. Fans and riders alike are preparing for the Tour, with the latter itself looking at new ways to further engage fans with different routes and tougher biking conditions for the riders. Many general classification riders often choose to prepare for the event by having a one-week ‘pre-tour’ race in the 4-8 weeks prior to Tour’s annual inauguration.
This year, the 21 stage route will consist of 7 flat, 5 hilly and 7 mountain stages with an individual time-trial, a team trial and 2 rest days across 3 regions of Belgium and 37 parts of France. The 2019 Tour will commence in Belgium on the 6th July, to honour 5-time winner Eddy Merckx’s first victory in the race. Having first won the Tour in 1969, this year marks the 50th anniversary of the Belgian’s first win, marking Belgium as a fitting host to begin this year’s race.
Cellhire is once again proud to be supplying mobile solutions to attendees to the event, with the help of its long-standing partnership with Orange France. The event is set to be a milestone as the entire 2019 Tour will celebrate a centenary of the Maillot Jaune; the Yellow Jersey, signifying the most important general classification, and the overall winner of the Tour de France.
Held every 4 years, the year before the Summer Olympic Games, the Pan American Games first began in 1951, when Latin American representatives suggested that a competition be created among all the countries in the Americas. The first edition of the games was held in Argentina, and over the years, the events have been hosted numerous times in Canada, Mexico and Brazil. This year, the games will be held in Lima, Peru for the first time.
Since beginning, the Games have increased in popularity for both athletes, and spectators; with 6680 athletes, 2672 technical officials and 62 disciplines in 39 sports expected for the 2019 Games. Announced in January 2019, there will also now be a Junior Pan American Games for young athletes, under the age of 21, commencing in 2021.
To build excitement for this year’s edition of the games, 2 times world record holder and 20 times Olympic Gold Medal Champion, Usain Bolt, visited the Videna New Athletics Stadium, which will host the athletics competition of the Pan Am games. Whilst there, Bolt placed his hands in cement to create a hand-printed commemorative plaque for the Games. The plaque will be proudly displayed during the Games events for attendees to snap a picture with to memorialise their visit.
The 2019 Pan American Games will act as a qualifier for athletes to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games, both of which, Cellhire is ready and waiting to provide attendees unparalleled, fast and outstanding coverage on bespoke, short-term tariffs.
As a country that effortlessly combines its ancient cultural heritage with modern and technological architecture, Japan is gearing up to host not just one, but two, of the biggest and most anticipated sporting events in the world, in short succession.
The Rugby World Cup is the world’s third largest sporting event, behind the Summer Olympics and the FIFA World Cup, and in September 2019, the tournament is making its way to Asia for the very first time. To prepare for the event, Japan is pulling out all the stops as it strives to overwhelm fans with excitement, and establish itself as a key contender within the traditional heartland of sport.
Hosting the event will be a momentous step for Asia, and a huge stride towards growing the sport within the region. With its established popularity marginally westernised, being hosted in Japan will be a real driving force for the sport within the region and will help inaugurate a lasting legacy for Japan to be proud of in future years.
Japan creates local advocates
On September 19th 2015, in the 3rd minute of injury time, Japan defeated South Africa in the Rugby World Cup, rapturing Japan and boosting the profile of the sport within the country. After the victory, Japan celebrated the win and demonstrated its admiration to the fullback and goal kicker, Goromaru as his distinct prayer-style kicking stance became the emblem of Japan. Something that was only heightened by the gold statue the player received as recognition. 2015 saw Rugby soar to new levels within Japan and left the locals in awe. This is the feeling Japan only wants to heighten again in the build up to its hosting of the 2019 tournament.
Determined to encourage locals into advocates of the sport, Japan has rolled out a nationwide ‘Matsuri Celebration’ under the Rugby Matsuri Project 2019. Matsuri (まつり) directly translates to ‘festival’ in Japanese, and the celebration is set to see rugby themed events taking place across the country. Choosing to instil a nationwide festival feeling into the Japanese locals is working as a great medium to get them excited about rugby and the events; which will have to be approved and certified by receiving an official logo/event mark as an official Rugby Matsuri 2019 event. The events themselves are not only intended to get locals impassioned, but will also strongly promote the Japanese culture to the rest of the world.
Japan is likewise pushing the sport towards more niche markets; overly campaigning the sport within the region has attracted more than 200,000 children to play rugby in Japan alone, and the Rugby World Cup Tournament itself is set to introduce young people to the sport in record numbers; with the goal to attract and retain one million new players.
Female fans have also been encouraged towards the sport by being introduced to the Japanese players, being able to ask questions and take photos with.
Companies within Japan are also advocating the Rugby fever, with Tour Companies expecting a record number of first time visitors to Japan. As part of their tour, visitors can call off at the Rugby shrine, that is set within the grounds of the Shimogamo Shrine, a heritage site in Japan. Attendees can get in the spirit of Japan by ringing the rugby ball shaped bell as well as writing prayers on rugby ball shaped tablets to add to the shrine wall, praying for their chosen team in the events.
A swarm of fans
Japan is set to attract the largest number of foreign fans in the tournament’s history; with over 600,000 of the 1.8 million tickets available expected to be held by international fans descending on Japan. This beats the 2015 edition of the tournament that saw 460,000 overseas fans. The 2015 Rugby World Cup has since been regarded as the biggest and best yet of the tournament and it is this record that Japan is determined to beat. English fans alone are expected to make of 23.9% of foreign visitors, followed by Australia that is expected to make up 15.6%.
Demand for tickets to the tournament is exceeding expectations exponentially, with this year’s tournament on track to be the most widely-viewed, most digitally engaged and most socially and economically impactful Rugby event of all time. With a compelling series of November and Six Nation test matches having already taken place, the Rugby World Cup tournament is capturing the hearts and minds of fans alike both within Japan and around the world. This is complementary of World Rugby’s view that the 2019 tournament will be the most competitive to date, especially with several teams in the mix to claim the winning title.
Who’s bringing home the win?
With New Zealand having won both the 2011 and 2015 tournament, they are rightly the favourites to take home the trophy for 2019. The All Blacks are opposed by other top favourites; the Wallabies, the Eagles, the Red and Whites, the Springboks, the Dragons, and of course, the Brave Blossoms
Joining the teams on the field is ‘SIRIUS’, the seventh generation of the official Rugby World Cup Match Ball, supplied by Gilbert. Taking its moniker from the seventh closest, and brightest star to Earth, the ball symbolises the competing teams from both hemispheres, in which the star itself is clearly visible.
Cellhire is scoring big
Having had a presence in Japan since 2005, Cellhire has strong network partnerships with official tournament supplier, NTT Docomo and local network SoftBank, to offer exclusive rates for attendees of the event.
Promising outstanding coverage across all parts of Japan, specifically in the 12 host venues, Cellhire is expecting to exceed all expectations, most notable for on-ground support and next-day delivery in the nation, which will be covered by the local Japanese office.
As always, Cellhire will be providing high-speed data connections and reliable, low cost calling along with SIMs, smartphones and portable, highly secure WiFi devices. Ensuring the 2019 Rugby World Cup runs as smoothly as possible, the event is a great test-run for both Japan and Cellhire ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.
The 17th edition of the IAAF World Championships in Athletics will be hosted in Doha later this year. It becomes the first city in the Middle East to host an athletics premier showcase event after two other cities applied to organise the Championships in 2019; Barcelona, Spain and Eugene, USA.
Since being selected to host the event, Doha has been busy preparing itself for the plethora of people due to enter its borders over the next few years. Most notably the biggest action taken is the renovation of the Khalifa International Stadium; one of Qatar’s most iconic sporting venues and the infamous heart of sport in the country, and within Asia as a whole.
The stadium will not only be host to the World Athletics Championships in 2019, but will be the host the 2022 FIFA World Cup. As well as a state-of-the-art advanced air conditioning unit, the stadium capacity has increased to 48,000, thanks to the additional 12,000 seats added, ready for the 40,000 people expected for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
To build excitement for the event, and to celebrate its first time hosting the World Championships in Athletics, Doha has rolled out a number of nationwide competitions to encourage and engage in a bid to increase the nation’s sense of patriotism.
Heritage Plaque
A public competition was held to design the IAAF World Athletics Heritage Plaque, and on 29th March 2019, Brazilian recreational runner, Fernando Silva was announced the winner. He wins a trip for two to the Championships as the prize.The oval design of the plaque represents the ‘global’ sport of athletics and the gold colour chosen for the ring itself represents ‘excellence’. The 6 bright colours complementing the gold, stand for the ‘universality’ of athletics, as represented by its 6 continental areas and 6 core event groups (sprints, hurdles & relays; middle/long distance; combined events; jumping; throwing; ‘out of stadium – cross country, mountain, road, trial and ultra-running and race walking.)
Mascot Design
On Qatar’s National Sports Day in February, an annual public holiday, the winning design of the mascot for the World Athletics Championships was unveiled. ‘Falah’, an athletic falcon sporting attire in the Qatari flag colours was the final result following a nationwide competition that saw 21 sketches submitted from Qatari residents. Young ambassadors aged 8-16 were invited to vote on the mascot sketches, where they narrowed the designs down to 8.
‘Falah’ was ultimately chosen to symbolise the pursuit of excellence, to demonstrate the flying into new horizons without boundaries, and to embody the attitude Doha has towards hosting the Championships. Doha is said to want to showcase the sport of Athletics to new audiences across the globe by engaging younger athletes and encouraging more fans to descend into Doha, as they connect people together through Falah to celebrate their first time hosting this monumental event.
Special invitees to the unveiling event; 490 children from a range of schools across Doha, celebrated the announcement by taking part in a series of sports related activities coordinated by the IAAF. These activities were implemented though the Qatar Athletics Federation along with Tsukuba University, who are part of the Tokyo 2020 legacy programme, Sports For Tomorrow.
Cellhire Chief Operating Officer, Tim Taylor, has been busy preparing for the event; by travelling to Doha to meet with the leading Qatari networks to discuss partnerships. These partnerships will be pivotal to Cellhire when looking to provide connectivity for the event, as the cost-effective, local solutions will save travellers on high data roaming costs and will increase greater network coverage in more areas. Ultimately, with 205 competing countries, 3,500 athletes, 10,000 expected international guests, 30,000 spectators and 2,000 personnel, Cellhire expects to be one of the main providers of mobile connectivity for those wanting to stay connected in Qatar.
Tokyo is no stranger to the Summer Olympics, having previously hosted the Games in 1964. As the first Olympics held in Asia, the 1964 Games welcomed 163 events in 19 sports, in 25 different disciplines, and saw Japan come third in the medal total behind the United States and the Soviet Union.
Roll forward 56 years, and the seasoned hosts will be marking the return of the Summer Olympics, now featuring 339 events in 33 sports and 50 disciplines, becoming the only Asian city to host the Olympics twice.
Whilst still a host city candidate, Japan intensified its bid by lighting up its infamous Tokyo Tower, demonstrating the Nation’s love of colour and light, with the colours of the Olympic Rings and the numbers ‘2020’, and has since lit up numerous other towers around the city to celebrate key milestones in the countdown to the Games.
Bidding for the 29th edition of the Games saw Japan beat candidate cities Istanbul and Madrid, as well as applicant cities Baku and Doha to the finish line; winning with 60 votes to 36, and only after a head-to-head with Istanbul.
Country upgrade
With 400 billion Japanese yen ($3.67bn) set aside to cover the cost of hosting the Games, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government is funding huge construction and infrastructure projects right across the city. Renovations to existing stadia as well as brand new venues are being added to the line-up. What once was the Olympic Stadium, where the opening and closing ceremonies would be held, has been knocked down and is being rebuilt at the cost of 155 billion yen ($1.23bn) and branded as the ‘National Stadium’. The Tokyo Aquatics Centre is also being built and is said to demonstrate impressive architecture and innovative engineering, due to be complete by February 2020.
It’s not just the venues that are getting a spruce up, the Japanese rail-ways will be getting upgraded and local heritage sites that are expected to attract thousands of tourists over the duration of the Games are getting renovated.
Technology
Digital technologies including robotics and ticketless entry into events, namely, the very latest facial recognition, are already exciting the technology geeks and terrifying the privacy advocates amongst us. Cutting-edge robots will provide assistant to spectators, including carrying food and drink, providing event information and guiding people to their seats, in another Olympic first. While self-driving taxis will be making a debut appearance transporting athletes and tourists around the city and between venues.
Tokyo 2020’s organising committee is committed to actively involving local communities in the preparations of Tokyo 2020 Games, the medals project is no acceptation. Precious metals such as gold, silver and bronze are being recovered and recycled from discarded e-waste such as mobile phones, old tablets, laptops and gadgets, and are being forged into Olympic Medals as a statement of the Games sustainability.
On March 19th 2019, the torch and torch relay logo were unveiled. The torch and its emblem will feature strongly in the build-up to the event throughout Japan, and bears the motif of a cherry blossom, Japan’s best-loved and most familiar flower. Using the same aluminium extrusion technology as used in the manufacturing process of the famous Japan bullet trains, the Torch is constructed from aluminium waste from temporary housing built in the aftermath of Fukushima Earthquake.
Cellhire is going for gold
With just over a year to go until Tokyo 2020 begins, and plenty of recce travel already taking place, Cellhire advises journalists, athletes and fans to plan ahead and save on mobile data costs when in Japan by ordering prior to travel.
With offices in the UK, USA, France, Germany, Switzerland and Japan, attendees, including TV and radio broadcasters, from all over the world can receive SIM cards, smartphones, mobile hotspots and other value-added telecoms and services ahead of time. The Japan office is also on hand, post departure, with local, on-ground support, next day delivery in parts of Japan and online support, which will guarantee excellent customer response times and help minimise potential “bill-shock”.
