Yekaterinburg in Russia is scheduled to host the annual gathering of top officials in the Olympic Movement from May 15 to 20.

It was originally due to be held in May last year before being postponed for the first time because of the global health crisis.

There were then plans to stage it in November, only for the event to be moved again due to ongoing travel restrictions caused by the pandemic.

The emergence of the highly transmissible Omicron variant has caused rising COVID-19 cases throughout the world and heath officials in Russia are reportedly anticipating a "very intense" rise in infections over the coming weeks after 305 Omicron cases were identified.

But SportAccord managing director Nis Hatt told insidethegames that it remained hopeful over the staging of this year's event.

"We are optimistic that the situation around the world will work in our favour so people can come together and build bridges for the future," said Hatt.

"It is a pivotal event for the world of sport so we are very much looking forward to it."

Hatt's comments come after Sverdlovsk Oblast Governor Yevgeny Kuyvashev suggested, in comments reported by Russia's official state news agency TASS, that SportAccord could be postponed amid concerns over Omicron.

With COVID-19 infections increasing in Yekaterinburg, Kuyvashev was unable to rule out the possibility of another postponement.

But insidethegames understands there is no intention of making such a move at this stage, with organisers remaining hopeful.

The SportAccord World Sport and Business Summit has not been held since 2019, when Australia's Gold Coast was the destination.

Chinese capital Beijing and then Olympic capital Lausanne in Switzerland had been due to stage the 2020 edition, but the pandemic led to it being cancelled altogether.

The summit in Yekaterinburg will now take place fewer than 15 months before the city is due to host the 2023 Summer World University Games.

Russia has hosted the conference twice before - in Sochi in 2015 and in Saint Petersburg in 2013.

Approximately 10.5 million coronavrius cases and 312,000 deaths have been registered in Russia since the start of the pandemic.