Stage set for West Asian Rugby Championship

DOHA, March 29, 2019-Qatar's Rugby, Hockey and Cricket Federation (QRHCF) is gearing up to host the West Asia Rugby Championship, which will see a huge participation from men and women teams from different countries next week in Doha.The organizing committee announced the match schedule of the event to be held from March 30 to April 6 in two venues – Aspire Zone and Doha Rugby Club.The Qatari team will begin their campaign in the tournament with a match against Jordan on Saturday.Three titles apiece will be up for grabs for men and women teams in U-18, U-16 and U-14 age categories. The women's team will be in action in Rugby 7s while men's outfits will battle in Rugby 15s competitions.

ITTF World Tour Platinum Qatar Open continues in style

DOHA, March 29, 2019-After a seven-month hiatus due to injury, Ma Long returned to action at the ITTF World Tour Platinum Qatar Open on Thursday here, but the reigning Olympic and world champion almost survived a scare in the Round of 32 action.The Chinese needed six games to overcome Frenchman Tristan Flore 6-11, 11-5, 12-10, 9-11, 11-5, 11-7 as his handful of fans at the Ali bin Hamad Al Attiya Arena (Al Sadd) endured some anxious moments.In fact, the No.11 seed's experience pulled him through after his opponent stunned him with a first game win. Thereafter, Ma did regain some lost grounds but lack of activity in the last seventh months meant that he wasn't in top form.The 30-year-old, three-time winner here, conceded the fourth game 9-11 as Flore looked to be in great touch against the superstar.Qatar's Maha Faramarzi and Aia Mohamed Aia suffered a straight set defeat against Szu-Yu Chen and Hsien-Tzu Cheng of Chinses Taipei while Mohammed Abdudulwahab and Abdulrahman Al Najjar lost to Ovidiu Ionescu of Romania and Alvaro Robles of Spain.Meanwhile, Croatia's Tomislav Pucar nearly pulled off another upset when he stretched China's No.2 seed Lin Gaoyuan to seven games. But lost by two points in the decider (7-11, 4-11, 12-10, 11-6, 7-11, 11-3, 11-9).But in a major upset of the evening, Listed at no.82 on the current men's world rankings, the Czech Republic's Pavel Sirucek, who is ranked 82, knocked out South Korea's world No.7 Lee Sangsu 11-9, 14-12, 11-7, 11-8.In stark contrast, top seed Xu Xin (CHN) and Timo Boll (GER) progressed to the Round of 16 beating South Korea's Lim Jonghoon (9-11, 11-7, 11-7, 11-9, 11-7) and Benedek Duda (GER) 11-4, 11-8, 11-4, 11-2 respectively.No.2 seed Kasumi Ishikawa (JPN) bowed out of the competition following a 7-11, 9-11, 12-14, 5-11 defeat against China's Sun Yingsha.Others who won include Gu Yuting, who defeated Austria's No.15 seed Sofia Polcanova 11-7, 9-11, 11-8, 11-6, 11-7); He Zhuojia knocked out South Korea's No.14 seed Jeon Jihee 11-5, 11-6, 10-12, 12-14, 11-6, 11-8 while Wang Yidi received a walk-over after South Korea's Su Hyo Won suffered an injury.

QOC honors Qatar Special Olympic team athletes

DOHA, March 29, 2019 - The Qatar Olympic Committee ( QOC) honored the members of Qatar Special Olympic team in a ceremonial scene took place at the QOC building on Thursday.Thursday's honoring ceremony came in recognition of the significant achievements the national special Olympic team made at 2019 Special Olympic World Games concluded recently in UAE's capital city of Abu Dhabi.The prestigious ceremony was attended by HE Dr. Thani bin Abdurrahman Al Kuwari, the QOC's Second Vice President, HE Jassim bin Rashid Al Boenin, the QOC Secretary General, Qatar Paralympics Committee board members and QOC employees. In a post- event statement, HE Jassim bin Rashid Al Boenin, the QOC Secretary General appreciated the team's achievement by claiming 13 medals and voiced support to this category who always enjoy with the spirit of challenge and determination. He also appreciated the Qatar Paralympics Committee with its all administrative and technical bodies for their effort.It is worth mentioning that Qatar Special Olympic team claimed 13 medals in 2019 Special Olympic World Games including 4 gold, 4 sliver and 5 bronze.

Al Naimi and Nawaf reach quarterfinals of Qatar Junior ITF World Tennis Tour

DOHA, March 28, 2019-Qatar's Mubaraka Al Naimi and Rashed Nawaf qualified to the quarterfinals of 2nd Qatar Junior ITF World Tennis Tour (J4 Doha) organized by the Qatar Tennis Federation (QTF) in cooperation with the International Tennis Federation (ITF) at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash ComplexMubaraka Al-Naimi teamed up with Mariana Ramirez Nieto to beat Vivien Charvatova of Czech Republic and Anika Seneviratne of Sri Lanka 7-5 2-6 [10-6] in the first round of girls doubles event.On the other hand, Qatar's Rashed Nawaf secured his spot in the quarterfinals of boys singles event after beating Dev Javia of India 6-3 6-3 in the second round.The main rounds of the event began on Monday with a wide Qatari and international participation in both singles and doubles events.The state of Qatar is represented by Rashed Nawaf, Mubarka Al Naimi, Ghanem Al Khelaifi, Nasser Al Yazidi, Saeed Al Kuwari, Ali Yafei, Meshaal Al Khanji, Adel Ghanim, Rayyan Al Jefairi, Taiyma Hasiba and Amna Homoud.

Curtains come down on swimming competitions at SOP

DOHA, March 28 , 2019 – The swimming competitions for preparatory rand secondary stags of the Schools Olympic Program 2018-2019 were successfully concluded at the Aspire Academy indoor playground on Thursday.Mr. Ali Al Hitmi, the Assistant Secretary General of Qatar Swimming Federation (QSF) and senior QSF officials crowned the top winners in a festive sport scene.The students displayed high technical performance in several classes including 50m freestyle, 50m backstroke, 50m butterfly, 200m multiple and relay event.The SOP is held annually as a collaborative effort of Qatar School Sports Federation (QSSF) and Ministry of Education and Higher Education, with hundreds of student athletes competing from all over Qatar.The SOP committee aims to spread a culture of sports throughout Qatar's schools and to engage the entire community in active and healthy lifestyles while retaining local values and traditions.

Main draw of ITTF World Tour Qatar Open to begin on Thursday

DOHA, March 28, 2019-Thirty-seven-year-old Thiago Monteiro booked his place in the main draw of the ITTF World Tour Platinum Qatar Open yesterday.In the final qualification match at the Ali Bin Hamad Al Attiyah Arena, Monteiro of Brazil beat Chinese Taipei's Liao Cheng-Ting 12-14, 11-7, 11-4, 11-8, 20-18 to qualify for the main draw, which will be held from today.Qatar's Mohammad Abdulwahab, Abdulrahman Al Najjar, Aya Magdi and Maha Flamerzi will begin their campaign in the tournament on Thursday.World No 19 Chinese Taipei's Chuang Chih-Yuan was knocked out of the tournament by China's Zhou Qihao in the fourth round of the preliminary round.Qihao, ranked 100 had reached semi-finals in Sweden last November and the Chinese looked in good rhythm yesterday as he edged past Chih-Yuan 5-11, 5-11, 11-8, 11-8, 11-8, 3-11, 11-9 in a thriller. Chinese Taipei's Lin Yun-Ju, who won the Oman Open on Sunday, beat Xu Fei of China 8-11, 11-6, 13-11, 11-4, 12-10 to book his place in the main draw.India's men paddlers had a disappointing day with all three of the exiting the tournament.Sathiyan Gnanasekaran lost to Chinese Taipei's Chen Chien-An (11-5, 12-10, 11-7, 11-7), while Sharath Kamal Achanta suffered a defeat at the hands of Belgium's Cedric Nutinck (7-11, 11-8, 7-11, 11-6, 8-11, 11-8, 11-9). Later, Amalraj Anthony lost to Frenchman Tristan Flore (11-2, 11-8, 4-11, 11-8, 11-8).Earlier, veteran Achanta had scripted a stunning comeback to win in the third round qualification match.His French opponent Antoine Hachard got off to a flying start in the match, establishing a surprise three-game lead but the Indian won the next four games in a row to advance in dramatic circumstances (9-11, 8-11, 9-11, 11-6, 11-6, 11-5, 11-5).Meanwhile, Masataka Morizono of Japan caused a major upset in the fourth preliminary round. The World No 45 beat Portugal's Marcos Freitas, 11th ranked in four straight games (11-9, 14-12, 11-9, 11-8).Tomislav Pucar continued his rich vein of form as the 70th ranked Croat upset England's World No 17 Liam Pitchford in a titanic seven-game contest (11-6, 8-11, 11-7, 11-8, 10-12, 11-13, 12-10).In the women's, Ukraine's Margaryta Pesotska booked her place in the main draw after she beat Monaco's Yang Xiaoxin 9-11, 7-11, 11-6, 14-12, 11-4, 8-11, 11-9. In the morning, Pesotska had to dig in before getting past Poland's Li Qian 9-11, 14-16, 12-10, 10-12, 11-5, 11-7, 12-10.ITTF Challenge Series Spanish Open winner, Japan's Miyu Kato beat Nadezhda Bogdanova of Belarus to book her place in the main draw (11-8, 11-3, 11-8, 11-9). Germany's Petrissa Solja, who had won the Europe Top 16 Cup in February, was beaten by China's Wang Yidi (9-11, 11-6, 12-10, 11-9, 11-6).Romania's Elizabeta Samara, who won the women's singles title in Qatar four years back, was knocked out.Samara was beaten by Han Ying in the third preliminary round 9-11, 7-11, 11-7, 11-8, 10-12, 11-7, 11-7.Meanwhile, China Liu Shiwen will defend her women's singles title. Seeded No 3, behind compatriot Ding Ning and Japan's Kasumi Ishikawa, Shiwen will face Matilda Ekholm of Sweden in the Round of 16.Shiwen had beaten another Chinese Wang Manyu, the fourth seed, in the last year's final after having started her tournament in the qualification stage.Her battle with top seed Ding Ning is the one to look forward to as the two are likely to meet in the final. They have met in three ITTF World Tour Qatar Open women's singles finals, with Shiwen winning 2011 and 2016, while Ding Ning prevailed in 2013.Ding Ning is in the same quarter as Japan's Mima Ito, the No 5 seed, the player against whom she suffered defeat in the penultimate round last November in Sweden. Manyu, a player against whom Ding Ning has experienced problems in the past, is also in the same half of the draw.In the men's, the reigning Olympic and World champion Ma Long will be back in action after the Chinese took a break from the international scene since a shock first round exit in mid-August in Bulgaria at the hands of England's Liam Pitchford. He was also notably absent at the recent Marvellous 12 in Shenzhen.Ma Long is seeded 11th in Doha. Defending men's champion Fan Zhendong is not competing in the tournament, which will give the likes of Germany's Timo Boll, the No 4 seed, who won in Doha in 2009, a chance to regain the lost glory.