Stage set for International U23 Friendly Championship

Doha: Coach of the Qatar Olympic football team Bruno Miguel Pinheiro, says the national Olympic team will make great gains during its participation in the International U23 Friendly Championship for Asian teams which kicks off across Qatar’s stadiums from Wednesday. Qatar’s young stars will meet the United Aran Emirates (UAE) in the opening match at the Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium at 10pm today. The tournament will be held from March 22-28. Competing in a regional roundhouse, Qatar will compete alongside the likes of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, Iraq, United Arab Emirates, Thailand, Kyrgyzstan, South Korea and Vietnam. Addressing a pre-match media briefing, Pinheiro said that the tournament is a great opportunity to prepare the team for the upcoming Asian Cup finals, pointing out that there are many new players whose abilities will be judged during the matches. Pinheiro, who led the Qatari Olympic team to the WAFF Championship runners-up finish last November, said, “We are waiting for the best from all players and we are looking for the best preparation to ensure that we reach the required fitness. We have undergone some preliminary preparations during the past days, and we will try to make the most of it.” UAE’s Spanish coch Denis Silva said that he also wants his players to make the most of the opportunity to gain experience during the competitions with the presence of 10 new players in the team. For his part, Saad al-Shehri, coach of the Saudi national U23 team, said the tournament provides players the chance to play with several teams, thanking the Qatar Football Association (QFA) for hosting the tournament. The coach, who led the Saudi to the West Asian Championship title, said, “Our goals are clear in this preparatory tournament, centered on implementing the programme that was set by the Saudi federation, and we look forward to exploring more players and giving the opportunity to some new faces against Thailand tomorrow will undoubtedly be difficult. Especially since it is a good team and has a distinguished group of talented players.” He stressed that the Saudi national team’s winning of the last Asian championship bears a greater responsibility and the group is moving step by step and that there was also a need to pump new blood at this stage to maintain the quality of the team. Issara Sariharu, coach of the Thailand national team, stated that he is looking at good competition with some of the best teams in the continent in this age group. He said: “We are here to develop and improve the performance of the Thai national team, and we want to stand at the level of all players.” Portuguese coach Emilio Peixe of the Kuwait team expects the competition to be strong in view of the strength of the participating teams. “What matters is developing the players’ performance and level in order to enter strongly into the next stage,” he said. In the same context, Kyrgyzstan coach Letsim Maxim said that participation will be important for his national team after the promotion of a number of new players from the youth team. He also expressed his great admiration for the stadiums in Qatar, which is also an opportunity for his team to prepare appropriately for the upcoming qualifiers. Vietnam’s French coach Philippe Troussier expressed his happiness on returning to Qatar again after he had previously led the first Qatari national team in 2003 and 2004, praising the size of the development taking place in Qatari football and the impressive success achieved in organizing the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 . He said: “The great development in Qatar is very remarkable, and it has succeeded in organizing many international sporting events.” Radi Shenaishel, the coach of the Iraqi team, expressed his great happiness in participating in the tournament, indicating that he aspires to make the most of this participation, especially in the presence of many strong teams, thanking QFA for organizing this tournament, which represents an opportunity to play many matches in perfect time and will help evaluate his team’s performance level. The Iraq coach concluded: “Our goal is to prepare the Iraqi national team for the West Asian Championship next June, then the qualifiers for the Asian Cup finals, and some professional players will join, who will be a great addition to the team.” Oman’s coach Akram Habreesh said that the benefit will be great for all participating teams, considering that playing with different styles is very important before entering the next qualifying stage. South Korea U23 national team coach Son Hong Hwan highlighted that participation in this type of tournament has many benefits, especially since this age group needs to gain experience and compete with different schools, pointing to the development of Asian football. QFA announced the schedule to be held in three rounds, with the participation of Qatar, Kuwait, UAE, South Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, Kyrgyzstan, Iraq, Sultanate of Oman and Saudi Arabia, where the first round will witness five matches and the same in the second round, and based on the results of the first and second rounds, positions will be determined from 1 to 10, and the third and final round meetings will determine the final positions. The Asian international friendly tournament comes as part of the teams’ preparation for the U-23 Asian Cup finals, which qualifies for the 2024 Paris Olympics, which will be held in Doha. Qatar U23 Squad:  Khaled Ali, Mohamed Surag, Osamah Al Tairi, Tameem Mansour (Al Rayyan), Abdulla Al Yazidi, Abdulrahman Rashed (Al Sadd), Abdulla Al Sulaiti, Jassem Gaber, Amir Hassan (Al Arabi), Ilyes Brimil, Abdelrahman Mohamed (Umm Salal), Abdulaziz Mohamed, Diyab Haroon, Mohamed Emad (Al Duhail), Ali J AI Marri, Mohamed Al Manai, Mohamed Hassan (Al Markhiya), Ali Nader (Al Khor), Mohamed Khaled (Al Wakrah), Saifeldeen Hassan, Abdalla Yousif (Al Gharafa), Faisal Mohamed, Yousif Balida (Al Shamal)  

Module 3 of QOA Advanced Sport Management Course concludes

Doha: The Qatar Olympic Academy (QOA) concluded the lectures of Module 3 of Advanced Sport Management Course which lasted for three days, in the presence of nearly 20 students from various disciplines and experiences. Lectures of Module 3 were presented by Dr. Christos Anagnostopoulos, a member of the Education City Network, Assistant Professor in Sports Management at Hamad Bin Khalifa University, and Associate Professor of Sports Management at Molde University in Norway. The lectures on the first day dealt with the organization of administrative work in human resource management and the explanation of different types of administrative organizational structures while clarifying the pros and cons of each type, in addition to the importance of having an administrative organizational structure for any sports institution. The lectures on the second day touched on the importance of human resources for any private or public institution since the human element is the optimal investment for the sustainability of the institution's services in the long term, and how to develop human resources through training, develop its strategies through ideal planning and the optimal mechanisms for employing and motivating human resources.  

Qatar to take on Oman in Asian Beach Handball Championship final

Bali: Qatar will take on Oman in the final match of the 9th Asian Beach Handball Championships in Bali, Indonesia on Sunday. Qatar qualified to the final match after beating Vietnam 19-18, 19-18 on Friday. Team Qatar have maintained an unbeaten run at this year’s Championship, having beaten title-holders Iran (23-18, 23-20), Saudi Arabia 2-0 (26-17, 24-17), Philippines 2-0 (17-14, 28-14) and South Korea 2-0 (23-17, 25-9) in the group stage where they topped the table with eight points. Qatar’s next opponent, the Oman, yesterday reached the title-clash with a 23-11, 22-20 win over Iran who will now take on Vietnam in the play-off for bronze medal. Incidentally, Oman, the 2004 champions, have finished runners-up on five occasions in all of which Qatar clinched the Asian title. The tournament serves as a qualification tournament for the 2024 IHF Men’s Beach Handball World Championship.  

Qatar Olympic Committee launches New Strategy 2023 - 2030

DOHA –   In attendance of  H.E the President of Qatar Olympic Committee  , Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad Al Thani, the Qatar Olympic Committee (QOC) has  launched its new strategy for the  2023-2030 sport term , under the slogan ( Vision, History & Achievement)   at Marsa Malaz Kempinski hotel Doha  on Sunday. Sunday’s launch ceremony was  attended by the QOC First Vice President  HE Mr. Mohamed bin Yousef Al-Mana, the QOC Second Vice President H.E Dr. Thani bin Abdulrahman Al Kuwari, the QOC Secretary General H.E Jassim bin Rashid Al Buenain, Presidents of National Sport Federations and Clubs in Qatar. The Qatar Olympic Committee (QOC)  has launched this  promising strategy 2023-2030 with purpose of  achieving three key objectives: Ensuring  Sport Excellence, boosting Olympic culture &  Enhancing sport sustainable development. In effort to make these  objectives  more  applicable,   the QOC   will keep encouraging  all  categories  of society to be at the heart of  the Olympic movement  ,  support  them  to exercise  sports and  adopt a healthy lifestyle day in day out. The QOC will push forward this approach to build up   a number of elite Qatari sport teams with purpose of  ensuring  that Qatar supremacy is made in all sport fields, including training, administration and other technical aspects. The QOC  will keep hosting the major sport tournaments with purpose of enhancing the  sport tourism, national economy and  bettering the investment in the  sport legacy that being gained  from the  major tournaments that the country hosted over the recent period. QOC’s top  priority in this strategy is to prepare  better national teams and promising age groups  teams , that with purpose of building  an strategic frame, setting up plans that could  help improving athletes  performance, taking care of them,  providing their needs,  following their health, career and education. In the top of that, this strategy  will  be assessing  the athletes performance to ensure  that their  periodical goals and key results are met. The QOC  gives  a profound concern to women sport in Qatar. It provides women equal chance with men  to be an integral part of the sport activities and participate in major tournaments. Most notably, the QOC’s efforts to increase Qatari women participation in different sports  were paid off over the recent years, that after they participated in the last three Olympics, London 2012,  Rio De Janeiro 2016 and Tokyo 2020. Since its foundation on March 14, 1979, the QOC has played an important role in raising sports awareness in nation and developing Olympic movement in accordance with principles of Olympic Charter and as a result, the Qatari sports movement has reached new heights over the last 43 years and achieved a huge number of achievements including the gold medal of Qatar's Mutaz Barshim at 2022 World Athletics Championships to become the first athlete to win three straight men’s high jump gold medals. Moreover, Qatar's Fares Ibrahim clinched one gold medal and one silver medal at 2022 World Weightlifting Championships. Qatar also made history at the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics winning two gold medals and a bronze medal. Qatar's achievements were not limited to sports side, but the Qatari sports officials were elected to assume leading positions at international sports institutions as the QOC President H.E Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad Al-Thani was elected as the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) Senior Vice President at the XXVI ANOC General Assembly 2022 held in Seoul last October. Moreover, the QOC President H.E. Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad Al-Thani, Qatar Foundation (QF) Vice-Chairperson and CEO H.E Sheikha Hind Bint Hamad Al Thani and QOC Secretary General H.E Jassim Rashid Al Buenain have been appointed to key roles on IOC Commissions. H.E. Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad Al-Thani, H.E Sheikha Hind Bint Hamad Al Thani and H.E Jassim Rashid Al Buenain were appointed to the IOC’s Olympism 365 Commission, Olympic Education Commission and Olympic Programme Commission respectively. The QOC also hosted the training camp of the Refugee Olympic Team ahead of their participation in Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, held from July 23 to August 08, 2021. The QOC also hosted a number of meetings between the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA), and representatives of the Afghanistan National Olympic Committee and the General Directorate of physical Education and Sport of Afghanistan. In recognition of its achievements, the QOC was bestowed the National Olympic Committees' (NOC) Breakthrough Award by the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC). The QOC President H.E. Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad Al-Thani received the award at the ANOC Awards 2021 held on the sidelines of the ANOC General Assembly in Crete, Greece. During the ceremony, the QOC honored the distinguished employees and graduates of different training programs.

Qatar U23 squad named for Friendly Championship

Doha: Qatar U23 coach Bruno Pinheiro on Sunday named the 23-man junior national squad that will take part in the International U23 Friendly Championship to be hosted by the Qatar Football Association (QFA) later this month. A total of ten teams – hosts Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, Iraq, UAE, Thailand, Kyrgyzstan, South Korea, Iraq and Vietnam – will take part in the tournament that will be played from March 22 to March 28 at different venues of the country. Qatar will play their opening match against the UAE on March 22 at Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium in Al Duhail. Qatar U23 Squad:  Khaled Ali, Mohamed Surag, Osamah Al Tairi, Tameem Mansour (Al Rayyan), Abdulla Al Yazidi, Abdulrahman Rashed (Al Sadd), Abdulla Al Sulaiti, Jassem Gaber, Amir Hassan (Al Arabi), Ilyes Brimil, Abdelrahman Mohamed (Umm Salal), Abdulaziz Mohamed, Diyab Haroon, Mohamed Emad (Al Duhail), Ali J AI Marri, Mohamed Al Manai, Mohamed Hassan (Al Markhiya), Ali Nader (Al Khor), Mohamed Khaled (Al Wakrah), Saifeldeen Hassan, Abdalla Yousif (Al Gharafa), Faisal Mohamed, Yousif Balida (Al Shamal)  

Team Qatar win Asian Men’s Beach Handball title

Bali: Team Qatar claimed the Asian Men’s Beach Handball title in Bali, Indonesia, on Sunday beating Oman 18-14, 16-12 in the final. Team Qatar have now won the Asian title six times.  They had the title glory on five continuous occasions since 2011 before finishing as runners-up last year in Iran.  Incidentally, this is also the sixth occasion wherein Oman have finished as runners-up.  Defending champions Iran, meanwhile finished third beating Vietnam 2-0 (17-9, 17-10).  Qatar reached the final with a 2-0 win over Vietnam in the semis following a dominant group stage where they topped their table with wins over Iran (23-18, 23-20), Saudi Arabia 2-0 (26-17, 24-17), Philippines 2-0 (17-14, 28-14) and South Korea 2-0 (23-17, 25-9).  Following their qualification into the finals, both teams also booked their berths in the 2024 World Handball Championship. Qatar will be taking part in the World Championship for eighth time.