WTT Star Contender Doha 2021 gets underway

Doha:  The qualifying rounds of the highly-anticipated WTT Star Contender Doha 2021 officially commenced on Monday as unseeded competitors opened their account at the Lusail Sports Arena. Ranked outside the World top 500 in the latest ITTF World Table Tennis Ranking, Singapore’s Lucas Tan pulled off one of the biggest upsets of the day in Men’s Qualifying Singles. Tan looked to be heading for an early exit only to stage an incredible comeback victory over Chinese Taipei’s Feng Yi-Hsin, ranked 176th (6-11, 2-11, 11-4, 11-8, 11-5). Hiroto Shinozuka, 17, also caught the eye as the Japanese teenager put together a successful 3-1 win over Russia’s Sadi Ismailov (11-8, 8-11, 11-6, 11-9). The result sees Shinozuka set up a second round meeting with Hong Kong, China’s Lam Siu Hang.  Similar to the Men’s event, Singapore also stole the spotlight in Women’s Qualifying Singles with Zhou Jingyi taking the plaudits. The 16-year-old showed wonderful character in her opening round match against Maryam Farei, fighting back from two games down to see off her the Iranian player in a 3-2 thriller (8-11, 8-11, 11-9, 11-3, 11-3). Another teenager who impressed was France’s Prithika Pavade. Facing the host nation’s very own Ala Mohamed, Pavade, 17, conceded a combined total of seven points across three games (11-4, 11-1, 11-2) to storm through to round two. One of the day’s standout results in Men’s Qualifying Doubles saw Korea Republic’s Jang Woojin and Jang Seongil suffer an opening round defeat. Germany’s Ricardo Walther and Fanbo Meng were responsible for the Korean pair’s downfall as they navigated an early storm on their way to a straight games victory (12-10, 11-9, 11-8). Behrooz Daneshmand, Mustafa Bakhtiyari and Mohammad Hosseini featured in the opening round of Men’s Qualifying Singles, experiencing defeat against Japan’s Yuto Kizukuri (11-5, 11-5, 11-3), Singapore’s Beh Kun Ting (11-5, 11-9, 11-2) and Chinese Taipei’s Sun Chia-Hung (13-11, 11-9, 11-4). Bakhtiyari and Hosseini also deputised in Men’s Qualifying Doubles, again falling short at the first hurdle with Singapore’s Clarence Chew and Beh proving too strong (11-6, 11-4, 11-9).  On the other hand, Qatar women’s challenge in the singles competition of the World Table Tennis’ Star Contender tournament ended in the first round of the qualifying competitions.  Shouq Abdulla went down to India’s Reeth Tennison 5-11, 6-11, 6-11. Maha Ali and Maha Faramarzi lost to their Iranian opponents Melika Karami and Mahshid Ashtari respectively. Maha Ali lost 1-11, 4-11, 5-11 while Maha Faramarzi suffered a 1-11, 3-11, 5-11 defeat. Ala Mohammed also failed to cross the qualifying hurdle going down to Slovenia’s Katarina Strazar 4-11, 1-11, 2-11. The second and final day of qualifying in Doha gets underway from 1000 local time as Korea Republic’s Cho Seungmin and France’s Irvin Bertrand take to table two in Men’s Qualifying Singles. Then, from 1400 local time, Women’s Qualifying Singles resumes with the exciting duel between France’s Prithika Pavade and Ukraine’s Solomiya Brateyko set to feature from 1430. Play concludes with the closing stages of Women’s Qualifying Doubles and Men’s Qualifying Doubles with tickets to the round of 16 on the line.  

QOC organizes professional decision-making training course

Doha - The Qatar Olympic Committee (QOC) organized professional decision-making training course at its headquarters from September 19th to September 21st  with participation of heads of QOC sections.   The training aims to develop the trainees' decision-making skills and supporting them in identifying  the different steps of decision-making process. The course lecturers Dr. Mona Pabty and Dr. Hassan Al Ali from Doha Institute for Graduate Studies focused lights on the definition of decision making and its different types , in addition to the leadership skills required for decision-making. The final day of the training course highlighted the mechanisms and behavioral rules of decision-making and the development of personal skills. Mrs. Maryam Al Kuwari, Director of the QOC Human Resources and Administrative Affairs Department handed over the certificates to the trainees and thanked the officials of Doha Institute for Graduate Studies for their fruitful cooperation and efforts to train Qatari sports officials. Al Kuwari stressed that this training course comes in light of the QOC efforts to develop the leadership skills of its employees in preparation for the upcoming mega sports events to be staged in the state of Qatar.  

Team Qatar qualify for FIVB Volleyball Men's World Championship

Doha: Qatar's national volleyball team qualified for FIVB Volleyball Men's World Championship to be staged in Russia from August 26 to September 11, 2022. The Qatari national team achieved this accomplishment thanks to their FIVB world ranking of 20 which was announced on Sunday, after taking the fifth place in the Asian Championship concluded in Japan recently. Twenty-four team will compete for the top honors in Russia.

WTT Star Contender to begin on Monday

Doha: The World Table Tennis (WTT) will make its return to Doha with a second WTT Star Contender this week, following its successful debut earlier this year with the WTT Middle East Hub.  More than 70 athletes from across the globe will start their campaign from the qualifying rounds for the singles and doubles, which take place at the Lusail Multipurpose Hall on Monday and Tuesday. Winners from the qualifying draw will then advance to the main round of action, which will be held from September 22-25. The Qatar Table Tennis Association Khalil Ahmed al-Mohannadi stressed that the organising committee has completed all the arrangements well in advance, drawing on their experience from hosting the first edition of the event in March earlier this year. Al-Mohannadi said the health bubble system will be strictly applied for the tournament with officials from Ministry of Public Health, ITTF and QTTA coordinating.  He also revealed that the event is open only to players and officials who are fully vaccinated, and they will be subjected to Covid-19 test on the arrival at the airport. WTT Star Contender Doha follows the highly successful WTT Contender Budapest, the first-ever WTT event held in Europe. Qatar’s third WTT event in 2021 offers 600 ITTF Table Tennis World Ranking points and a $200,000 in prize money. WTT Star Contender events sit within the third tier of the WTT Series as part of the revamped event structure that WTT, a commercial and events subsidiary of the ITTF has created. Finland’s Benedek Olah and Singapore’s Clarence Chew are two of the 47 challengers in the men’s singles qualifying draw.  

QOC E-Tournament proves a huge success

DOHA-The Qatar Olympic Committee (QOC) organized the finals of the 15th edition of E-Games Tournament (FIFA 21) at Virtuocity arena in Doha Festival City on Saturday. Ahmed Abdulrazaq claimed the first place ahead of Bilal Asmat in the second place while Jassim Al Eid settled in third place. Nasser Al Mudahka, Head of the QOC sports activities and programs section and the Tournament Director Abdulaziz Al Ghanim crowned the winners. Abdulaziz Al Ghanim stressed that the tournament proved a huge success as this edition reflects the popularity of the community events organized by QOC among the community members. He also added that qualifications of this event were held virtually from September 15-17 while the finals were held at Doha festival city. Ahmed Abdulrazaq winner of the event said "I'm so happy to claim the title as the tournament featured the participation of very talented players" He also thanked the organizing committee of the event for its efforts to provide the players with the best possible atmosphere. The QOC organizes the fifa football E-games tournament every year as part of the community activities plan in an effort to increase the participation of the community in sports activities.

QOC holds a workshop to prepare Team Qatar 2030 plan with sports clubs

DOHA- H.E. President of the Qatar Olympic Committee (QOC) Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad Al-Thani held a workshop with presidents and executive directors of sports clubs on Thursday to discuss Qatar's strategy to prepare national teams for the Doha 2030 Asian Games. The workshop was attended by H.E. Minister of Culture and Sports Salah bin Ghanem Al-Ali, H.E. QOC Secretary-General Jassim bin Rashid Al-Buainain and Directors of QOC Departments. During the workshop, H.E. Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad Al-Thani encouraged the sports clubs to begin preparing the Qatari national teams for Doha 2030 Asian Games to secure the best possible results during the games in line with Qatar's sports renaissance and the unlimited support for our wise leadership. The QOC President lauded the huge efforts of sports clubs and their contribution to developing team Qatar athletes and helping them accomplish more achievements including the historic achievements in Tokyo 2020 Olympics when Qatar claimed two gold medals and one bronze medal. H.E. Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad Al-Thani stressed the importance of coordinating between the QOC, the Ministry of Culture and Sports, sports clubs and sports federation to achieve the objectives of team Qatar strategy and to prepare Qatari athletes for Doha 2030 Asian Games. For his part, H.E. Minister of Culture and Sports Salah bin Ghanem Al Ali commended the cooperation between sports clubs and federations to secure more achievements. Team Qatar strategy aims to build a strategic framework and systematic plans to develop athletes’ performance and provide them with their needs. It also helps the QOC measure, follow up and evaluate their performance to ensure the achievement of the interim goals and main results.