Employees produce impressive performance in shooting event at QOC Ramadan Tournament

DOHA – Employees and families kept their distinct performance on Monday in shooting event  of  QOC Ramadan Tournament 2024 ,which is running  from  17th to 26th  of March  at the Lusail Shooting Range. Shooting results were impressive on Sunday and Monday, they showed skill and brilliant of a number  employees in this loving sport to Qatari community. In men’s air gun event, the duo, Abdulaziz Al-Balushi and Nasser Al-Mudahka won the first place, Abdulhadi Al-Shahwani and Khalifa Al Shahwani finished in the second  place, while the third place went to Ali Al-Hamadi and Salim Abdullah Al Sadi. In women’s air gun event, the duo, Nada Wafa and Najlaa Al-Khayareen claimed the first place, Noura Al-Balushi and Amna Murad seized the second place, while Amna Al-Ansari and Hind Al-Ebrahim took the third place. In family air gun event,  the duo, Abdullah Al-Naemi and Nasser Al-Naemi won the first place, Nasser Al-Mudahka and  Sultan Al-Mudahka claimed the second place and the third place went to Najlaa Al-Khayareen and Haid Al-Khayareen. Tuesday schedule will be busy with beach volleyball competitions  for QOC departments, President Office team will take on Secretariat -General Office in the opening game, while QOC workers  will play  human resources & administrative affairs in the second match. In the third game, President Office will play human resources & administrative affairs, likewise QOC workers  will lock horns against Secretariat -General Office in the fourth game. Eight QOC teams distributed into two groups are competing in the men’s beach volleyball,  group A, includes President Office, Secretariat -General Office, human resources & administrative affairs and QOC workers  , while group B, includes, Procurement, Public Relations, Sport Affairs and Sport Events. This  QOC Ramadan Tournament is  seeing  three key sport disciplines, Beach Volleyball ( for departments), Shooting event (Shotgun + Air gun) for Men , Women  and families  and Padel Event-Doubles (Men).  

Qatar’s Ismail Dawoud qualifies for Paris Olympics

DOHA-  Ismail Dawoud of Qatar on Thursday qualified for the Paris Olympics 2024 achieving a new record in the men’s 400m hurdles clocking 48.69secs to claim gold in the ASA Athletics Grand Prix 1 held at the McArthur Stadium in Pothefstroom, South Africa.  Le Roux Hamman of South Africa won silver in 49.75secs while his compatriot Johannes Pretorius won bronze with a time of 50.66sces.  The Qatar Olympic Committee in a message on X platform congratulated the athlete wishing all Qatari athletes who have qualified for Paris 2024 success.

Qatar to Host Five Consecutive FIFA U-17 World Cup Tournaments

ZURICH - The FIFA Council held a meeting on 14 March 2024 and announced that Qatar had been selected as the host country for the next five editions of the FIFA U-17 World Cup, from 2025 to 2029. The latest FIFA Council meeting confirmed that Qatar will host the upcoming five editions of the FIFA U-17 World Cup, which will now feature 48 teams. "As part of the governing body's steadfast commitment to youth football and following the decision to expand the FIFA U-17 World Cup to 48 teams and hold it annually rather than biennially, it was confirmed that the next five editions of the competition, starting in 2025, will take place in Qatar," the FIFA Council said in a statement today. The FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup, which has been expanded to 24 teams and will be played annually as of 2025, will be hosted by Morocco until 2029, the statement added pointing that the two decisions followed a global call for expressions of interest in hosting both competitions, with a focus on leveraging the use of existing footballing infrastructure in the interest of tournament efficiencies and sustainability. Meanwhile, the FIFA Council has unanimously approved the Annual Report 2023, which confirms the organisation's exceptionally healthy and sustainable situation, with record investment in football development of USD 2.25 billion earmarked for the entire 2023-2026 cycle as part of the FIFA Forward 3.0 Programme. The Annual Report, which was duly approved by the FIFA Governance, Audit and Compliance Committee and the FIFA Finance Committee, will be distributed to all 211 member associations and submitted to the 74th FIFA Congress in Bangkok on Friday, 17 May 2024 for final approval. "Thanks to its solid financial governance, FIFA is well on track to exceed its budgetary target of USD 11 billion for the 2023-2026 cycle," said FIFA President Gianni Infantino. "This means that we will be able to deliver more tailored services for our 211 member associations to assist them in realising their development and education projects and taking football to the next level," he added. "FIFA's sound financial position will be key to successfully implementing our Strategic Objectives for 2023-2027, in cooperation with our 211 member associations and the six confederations," Infantino said The voting procedure for the designation of the host(s) of the FIFA Women's World Cup 2027 by the upcoming Congress was also confirmed and foresees that the result of each ballot and the related votes will be made public. A bid from Brazil, a joint bid from Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands, and a joint bid from Mexico and the United States are currently in the bidding process, which is set to conclude in Bangkok in May, where the host(s) of the next edition will be decided by FIFA's member associations.

Qatar’s Taekwondo Team line up for Asian Qualifiers for Paris 2024 Summer Olympics

Doha: The Qatari national taekwondo team have finalized their extensive preparations to participate in the Asian qualifiers for the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics due to be held in China on Mar. 15 and 16. The team left Doha heading to the Chinese city of Taian, ahead of the qualifiers to begin on Friday.   The team included three players, namely Maram Fatnassi (weight - under 67 kilograms), Nour Mohammed (weight - over 67 kilograms), and Wadah Khalil (weight - over 80 kilograms).   

QOC marks its 45th anniversary on Thursday

Doha: The Qatar Olympic Committee (QOC) will celebrate its 45th anniversary, which falls on March 14, 1979, on Thursday.  Since its establishment, QOC has played a prominent role in spreading sports awareness in Qatar, nurturing and developing the Olympic movement following the foundations upon which the Olympic Charter is based, in addition to supporting and developing sports performance, which contributed to the great boom witnessed by the Qatari sports process during the past 45 years. The efforts of the QOC resulted in unprecedented sporting achievements at various levels, the most prominent of which was obtaining 8 Olympic medals including two gold medals, two silver medals, and four bronze medals. Mohamed Suleiman achieved the first Qatari Olympic medal by winning a bronze in the 1,500-meter race at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. The second medal goes to Asaad Saeed Saif, who won a weightlifting bronze in the 105 kg weightlifting category at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. At the London 2012 Summer Olympics, Mutaz Barshim claimed the silver medal of men’s high jump event while Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah took the bronze medal of men’s skeet event. Then Mutaz Barshim returned to win silver in the high jump at the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics before Qatar succeeded in topping the overall standings of Arab countries in the last edition of the Olympics Tokyo 2020, with Mutaz Barshim and weightlifter Fares Ibrahim winning two gold medals in addition to a bronze medal for the beach volleyball team. The Qatari teams also achieved many other notable achievements in various regional, Asian, and global games. The sporting achievements achieved by the State of Qatar continued to include hosting many major sporting events that made Qatar a global capital of sports in line with the vision of the Qatar Olympic Committee 'let us be a pioneering nation that unites the world through sustainable sports development.' One of the most important achievements accomplished by the State of Qatar on the global level is its success in hosting the 1995 FIFA U-20 World Cup, even though the organization of the tournament was assigned to it approximately two weeks before its scheduled date, so that Qatar proved to the world its ability to organize and host the most important sporting events, just as Qatar succeeded in 2006 in hosting the 15th Asian Games, where Qatar was the first Arab country to host this major sporting event, during which Doha achieved an unparalleled success that is still the talk of the Asian continent. In the year 2022, the State of Qatar dazzled the world by organizing the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 as the first country in the Arab world and the Middle East to win the honor of hosting this global event. It succeeded in presenting an exceptional tournament that achieved success beyond expectations and that edition was the best in the history of the World Cup. Qatar also impressed the world by organizing the Men's Handball World Championship Qatar in 2015. Qatari team finished second to become the first Asian and Arab team to ascend the podium in the World Championship since its inception. Qatar also hosted other global events, including the World Indoor Athletics Championships in 2010, the World Boxing Championships in 2015, the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in 2018, the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) World Beach Games in 2019, and the World Athletics Championships in 2019 as well, in addition to the FIFA Club World Cup in 2019 and 2020, and the World Judo Championships in 2023, in addition to the 2024 World Aquatics Championships and other sporting events. The State of Qatar won the hosting rights for the 21st Asian Games in 2030 for the second time, having hosted the Games in 2006, in addition to hosting the 2027 Basketball World Cup, which will be held for the first time in the Middle East and North Africa. Through its 2023-2030 strategy, the Qatar Olympic Committee seeks to achieve three main goals: ensuring sporting excellence, promoting Olympic culture, and achieving comprehensive sports development. To achieve these goals, the Committee is keen to continue its support for the Olympic movement by encouraging all segments of society to participate in sport events and adopting healthy lifestyles. This approach extends to include building and developing elite teams of Qatari male and female players to ensure Qatari excellence in all sporting aspects, including training, management and other technical aspects. The Qatar Olympic Committee also seeks to keep pace with developments in the global sports system by organizing many pioneering programs and initiatives at the level of the Middle East. The Committee also pays great attention to administrative and technical development, as it organizes many training and development programs to refine and develop the skills of the Committees employees and enhance their job experience and provide an appropriate work environment for them in appreciation of their efforts and their role in the achievements achieved over the past years at all levels. Established on March 14, 1979, the Qatar Olympic Committee joined the International Olympic Committee in 1980 and became a member of the World Olympic Council of Asia in 1981. It also joined the Union of Arab National Olympic Committees in 1982.  

Draw held for Asian Men’s U20 Championship

Bangkok: The draw of the Asian Men’s U20 Volleyball Championship was held in Bangkok, Thailand on Tuesday.  The championship will be held in Surabaya, Indonesia from July 23 to 30.  According to the draw results, hosts Indonesia are drawn in Pool A with Saudi Arabia, Eastern Zone and Oceania, while Pool B comprises defending and consecutive two-time champions Iran, former four-time winners China, Chinese Taipei and Qatar.  Pool C consists of India, silver medallists at the previous edition in 2022 in Bahrain, Bangladesh, former three-time champions Japan and Kuwait, with former six-time winners Korea, Thailand, Central Zone and Southeastern Zone in Pool D.