Team Qatar athletes shine to win four medals at GCC Women's Games

KUWAIT, October 29, 2019 – Team Qatar confidently claimed four medals on the second day of the prestigious GCC Women's Games 2019 in Kuwait on Monday .Qatar's Bashayer Obeid won the gold medal in the triple jump, while her teammate Mariam Fareed clinched the silver medal in the 400m steeplechase.On the same track of glory, Mona Al Saadi won the gold medal in shot put ( people with special needs category) and Salma Hammad seized the bronze in the same category.Team Qatar delegation to the games is chaired by Lolwa Al-Marri, President of Qatar Women's Sport Committee , accompanied by 132 athletes, administrators and technical staff members.

Schools Olympic Program kicks off at Aspire Academy

DOHA, October 29, 2019 (QNA) - HE Qatar Olympic Committee (QOC) Secretary General Jassim Rashid Al Buainain announced that a new edition and strategy will be launched to support the School Olympic Program (SOP) in the coming period, while pointing out that the continuity of the program confirms to achieve the desired objectives so far.Al Buainain's announcement came at the opening of the 13th edition of SOP at Aspire Academy on Monday morning in the presence of HE Chairman of the SOP Organizing Committee HE Sheikh Khalifa bin Khalid Al-Thani and members of the committee, HE the Chairman of Qatar School Sports Association (QSSA) Rabia Mohammed Al Kaabi and the Chief Executive Officer in Aspire Zone Foundation Mohammed Khalifa Al Suwaidi.The QOC Secretary General stressed the importance of SOP in statements after the opening of the program and pointed out that the program is under the auspices of HE President of Qatar Olympic Committee Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad Al-Thani, and that there's also considerable interest from the IOC partners in the program, namely the Ministry of Education and Higher Education and Aspire Academy.The event was attended by 70 talented students who were discovered through the previous edition of football and represent several schools, namely: Khalifa Model Independent School, Al Khor Model School, Newton International Academy Barwa City, Muaz Bin Jabal Independent Primary School, Jaber Bin Hayyan School, Simaisma School, Othman Bin Affan Boys School, Kamal Nagy School, Abdullah Al Misnad School and Al Qadisiyah Model School.The students participating in these opening events demonstrated their high technical skills in front of the audience and confirmed their talents that helped them join the various clubs.In this regard, Al Buainain explained that they made sure that the opening of the new version is the output of the previous version in terms of presenting the talented players produced by the previous edition so everyone can see them. He added that they also joined a number of clubs and thus achieved one of the most important objectives of SOP by providing talents to clubs to benefit from and provide them in the future to various national teams.He added that there is cooperation between clubs, federations and schools, and that they consider the education sector as an important sector in the sporting career. He said that there's many sporting talents provided by the program and may be used in the future, however, it isn't the only goal, and there are other goals such as spreading exercise and awareness of sports and maintaining public health and the use of sport as a means of sustainable lifestyle.HE Chairman of the SOP Organizing Committee HE Sheikh Khalifa bin Khalid Al-Thani said in a similar statement that everyone in the organizing committee will aim to present a distinctive version of the SOP this year in order to achieve the required goals of discovering outstanding talents and presenting them to clubs and to establish the culture of sport in Qatari society, which is important to make sport a lifestyle.HE Sheikh Khalifa said that the 13th edition of the program is open with good participation from all, which seeks to be a record of participation among students, as well as schools, which serves its goal of sports in all schools in order to increase sports awareness and importance to students.He added that the organizing committee will spare no effort in achieving the objectives of the program and that the committee will expand the base of participants in the program to different schools, noting that the program will serve as a strong tributary for the various clubs and sports federations to benefit from the talent services provided by it.For his part, Vice-President of the Organizing Committee of the Olympic Program Hamad Al Obaidli pointed to the distinguished opening of the Olympic program in view of the large presence, expressing his wishes for success to all to enjoy the competitions that will include various games.He added the competitions will kick off next Sunday where students compete in 12 sports, including football, volleyball, basketball, gymnastics, swimming, athletics, table tennis, fencing, ground tennis, archery, chess and taekwondo). Girl students will compete in all these 12 games in addition to handball, he said.Al Obaidli said that the organizing committee will do its best to come up with a distinguished edition this year and achieve the desired goals, adding that the committee will seek to attract the largest number of schools to participate in this edition, hoping to see great participation and competing in various games of the program, both for boys and girls.Executive Director of the Schools Olympic Program Abdulrahman Al Muftah hailed the distinguished opening of the new edition of the program. He said that everyone is looking forward to success in all competitions and various games and that the competitions will be in the stadiums of clubs, federations and Aspire as well as in schools in order for everyone to participate in these events.Al Muftah pointed out that the indicators confirm that this edition will see a large and standard participation in terms of the number of male and female students as well as schools, stressing that everyone in the organizing committee will strive to achieve this in order that the program targeted the largest segment of male and female students.Fahad Al Mulla, member of the organizing committee of the Olympic program, praised the opening activities today, explaining that the Olympic program represents an ambitious project in discovering sports talents at an early age.Al Mulla stressed that organizing the competitions of the Olympic program helps to discover talent through the presence of coaches and experts in different schools to follow the competitions in various games and this is done by the various associations as well as clubs and contribute to the discovery of many talents that will have a promising future.Khawla Khaled Jamal, another member of the organizing committee of the Olympic program, stressed the importance of the School Olympic Program in Qatar because of its many benefits, especially for girls.She highlighted the importance of sport for all, adding that the role of Olympic program is not only sports competitions and awards, but making sport as a culture among youth.

Stage set for FINA Swimming World Cup

DOHA, October 28, 2019-The Qatar Swimming Association (QSA) stepped up its preparations for the seventh round of FINA Swimming World Cup 2019 to be held at the Hamad Aquatic Centre, Aspire Zone next month. The competition, which will take place from November 7 to 9, will be the last meet of the FINA Swimming World Cup 2019 series, involving seven cities. It will be the eighth consecutive year for Doha to host a FINA Swimming World Cup event.Qatari capital, home to the FINA World Swimming Championships in 2014, will also host the FINA World Aquatics Championships in 2023 – the sport's spotlight event.The FINA Swimming World Cup 2019 series started in Tokyo (JPN) while Jinan (CHN) and Singapore (SGP) hosted the next two meets, forming cluster 1. Cluster 2 involved stops in Budapest (HUN) and Berlin (GER).The stop in Berlin, which was held from October 11 to 13, witnessed Dutchman Arno Kamminga surpassing Russia's Vladimir Morozov to win the second cluster. In the women's events, Australia's Cate Campbell surpassed Hungary's Katinka Hosszu to win the cluster, taking an overall lead in the series.Swimmers will come to Doha after competing in the Kazan (RUS) meet – the first stop of the third and final cluster – which will take place from November 1 to 3.

Qatar wins seven new medals at GCC Women’s Games

Kuwait, October 28, 2019-Qatar's Sarah Masoud claimed the gold medal of discus throw event for people with special needs at the 6th GCC Women's Games in Kuwait City yesterday. In athletics competitions, Alaa Riyad took the bronze medal of 100m hurdles event while Rima Fareed clinched the silver medal of long jump event. Sarah Al Manai grabbed the silver of Javelin throw event. Moreover, Qatar dominated table tennis individual event as Aya Magdi claimed the gold medal while her compatriot Maha Flamerzi finished second. Aya Magd also teamed up with Maha Flamerzi to take the silver medal of doubles event while Qatar's Kholoud Ismael and Maha Ali clinched the bronze medal.

13th edition of Schools Olympic Program to begin on Monday

DOHA, October 28, 2019 – The Organizing Committee of the 13th edition of Schools Olympic Program (SOP) has officially announced the opening ceremony of SOP which will get underway at Aspire Zone on Monday.The announcement came during a press conference held at Qatar Olympic Committee Headquarters on Sunday attended by senior SOP officials, including HE Sheikh Khalifa bin Khalid Al Thani , chairman of SOP Organizing Committee, who thanked the former SOP Organizing Committee headed by HE Rabea Al Kaabi, President of Qatar School Sports Association (QSSA) and Mr. Ali Al Hitmi, QSSA Secretary General for their tangible effort.In his opening speech on Sunday , HE Sheikh Khalifa described SOP as one of significant and vital projects that has been supporting the sport in the country since the school year 2007-2008. HE Sheikh Khalifa also appreciated the big efforts had been made annually by former SOP officials and staff to make the SOP a pioneer and successful sport event in the country today .The SOP, which is a national programme that covers all the Qatari schools, will be held in the next six months.The competition is held annually as a collaborative effort of Qatar School Sports Association (QSSA) and Ministry of Education and Higher Education. The SOP aims to spread a culture of sports throughout the schools and engage the entire community in active and healthy lifestyles while retaining local values and traditions.Last year's edition featured 12 sports — football, basketball, volleyball, handball, tennis, table tennis, fencing, gymnastics, athletics, swimming, chess and taekwondo.This year's events will feature students compete in 12 sports in the boys section and 13 in the girl's.The SOP goes in line with other initiatives undertaken by Qatar as part of the Qatar National Vision 2030.Last year, 333 schools took part in various school competitions and saw 14,700 students taking part in the various disciplines.

Stage set for World Squash Championships

DOHA, October 27, 2019-The online sales of tickets for the 2019/20 PSA Men's World Championships will go live today afternoon and will be available on the federation's official website (www.qatarsquash.org).The $335,000 total prize-money event, to be held from November 8 to 15 at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex in Doha, will feature 64 players from 24 countries, including the 56 highest ranked players and eight wild card entrants. Defending champion and World No.1 Ali Farag is leading the array of world class players which includes two other former world champions – 2017 champion Mohamed ElShorbagy and 2016 winner Karim Abdel Gawad, for the tournament taking place in Doha for the fifth time.Tickets will also be available onsite at the Khalifa International Tennis & Squash Complex and date to be announced soon.Meanwhile, the Khalifa International Tennis & Squash Complex is already wearing a new look in preparation for the championship. The branding at the venue has been completed and the necessary makeovers done in readiness for the most prestigious tournament on the PSA men's tour.Commenting about the development, Tariq Zainal, the Tournament Director said: “We are delighted to announce the start of online sales of tickets for this prestigious tournament. We are extremely proud to host another edition of the prestigious PSA Men's World Championships.“It is a great privilege to welcome the world's top players as well as fans of the beautiful game of squash to Doha once again. Doubtlessly, all lovers of the game are in for a good time as all arrangements have been made to ensure the tournament is one of the best so far. We believe it will be an exciting time for all participants as the best of squash is witnessed inside the beautiful courts of the Khalifa International Tennis & Squash Complex. We are looking forward to seeing the fans troop out in large numbers to enjoy this amazing experience."All matches of the eight-day tournament will be held with play split between the glass court and the 'traditional' plaster side courts. Fixtures from the glass court will be streamed live on SQUASHTV (rest of world), Eurosport Player (Europe only) and the official Facebook page of the PSA World Tour.To purchase tickets and find all tournament information, please visit www.qatarsquash.org