Budapest, Feb 8 (IANS): Budapest will host an extraordinary FINA World Championships in the summer, the International Swimming Federation said on Monday. The Hungarian capital will host the championships from June 18 until July 3, according to the international organisation.

Hungary already hosted the FINA World Championships in 2017.

The agreement on hosting the world event ensures athletes have a global aquatics championship to target in the summer of 2022, FINA said. The agreement was signed by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and FINA President Husain Al-Musallam.

"We know we need to be imaginative in our approach in navigating through the current health crisis for our athletes. Today's agreement is a testament to this work," Al-Musallam was quoted as saying by FINA.

"We are extremely fortunate to have event hosts that share our passion for aquatics and have the willingness, capability and flexibility to organize FINA's most prestigious event. We are deeply grateful to all our hosts and know that aquatics athletes feel the same way," the FINA president added.

This FINA World championship is set to feature five FINA aquatics disciples: swimming, diving, water polo, artistic swimming, and open water swimming, reports Xinhua.

Last week, FINA announced that the 19th FINA World Championships, initially scheduled to take place in Fukuoka, Japan, on May 13-29, 2022, were rescheduled for July 14-30, 2023.

The measure was taken "due to the current health impacts of the Omicron Covid-19 variant and the pandemic measures currently in place in Japan," FINA said.

With the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham scheduled from July 28-August 8, the event will be a big test for swimmers from the Commonwealth region ahead of the Games.