Russia 2018: Last Stop Before Qatar's Showpiece

Doha, June 11, 2018 - Eight years on after Qatar was awarded the hosting rights of the 2022 FIFA World Cup as the first Arab country to get such an honor, different state bodies, led by the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy (SC), continue to work to ensure organizing a historic championship through stadia and infrastructure projects and drawing plans and strategies to overcome obstacles and achieve success.As part of its efforts to provide a unique experience to fans in 2022, SC has been organizing a monitoring program since 2010 that started with the South Africa finals and continued in Brazil finals in 2014, EURO 2016 and the Russia finals, which kick off in a few days, before the State of Qatar goes through the same experience in four years' time.SC and its partners at the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Culture and Sports, the Ministry of Municipality and Environment, the Ministry of Transport and Communications, Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation (Kahramaa), Public Works Authority (Ashghal), Qatar Real, Qatar Tourism Authority, Qatar Foundation, Qatar Football Association, Qatar Stars League, Qatar Olympic Committee, Aspire Zone, Qatar Museums and Doha Film Institute.The monitoring program comprises 180 persons who visit different host cities, some of whom are part of the local organizing committee and the FIFA teams.SC Assistant Secretary General Nasser Al Khater said the program aims to benefit from the experiments of host nations in order to learn from their experiences and knowledge to the State of Qatar and develop the capacities of Qatari cadres who will participate in hosting the 2022 FIFA World Cup or those who work in the sporting sector and event organization in general.Speaking to QNA, Al Khater said that the Qatari delegation will learn about the different aspects of organizing the World Cup in Russia, starting with operations at the stadiums, organizing transportation, security, entry and exit, fan movement, and facility and hotel management.As the host nation of the next World Cup in 2022, Qatar will be present in Russia through a pavilion to promote the different tourism and cultural sites in Qatar and the experiences that await the visitors in four years.In addition, a World Cup memorabilia museum will be held in one of the biggest shopping malls in Moscow. The museum will include prominent historic memorabilia that belong to Qatari engineer and cartoonist Mohamed Abdullatif in addition to some of the collectibles of former Al Rayyan player Ali Al Ali, who is also president of former footballers' committee.Al Khater said the pavilion aims to market Qatar as the hosting country and an international destination for sports and tourism, in addition to introducing the Qatari culture to visitors.He added that the success of the monitoring program in Russia will play a vital role in benefiting from the experiences of the hosting country in order to ensure a historical event that takes place for the first time in the region and Arab world.The Qatari delegation at the Russia World Cup has three different tasks; the first task is concerned with monitoring and aims to learn about the work progress at host cities including transportation, roads and security. The second task includes an awareness and services operation for fans in order to promote and introduce the Qatar World Cup through small outlets in the cities of Moscow and St. Petersburg and give the public an idea about Doha and an overview of what the 2022 World Cup has to offer.The third task is responsible for the activities taking place on the sidelines of the World Cup, most prominently the pavilion that aims to provide the audience with Qatar's touristic and cultural destinations, in addition to the World Cup finals' museum, which will be held in one of the famous hotels in Moscow's Red Square in cooperation with the Qatari artist Mohamed Abdullatif.

Qatar juniors sparkle in Asian Athletics Championships

GIFU, Japan, June 11, 2018 - Qatar narrowly missed out on two more gold medals to finish sixth in the standings as the Asian Junior Athletics Championships concluded in the Japanese city of Gifu on Sunday.Japan topped with 14 gold while China with 11 and India with five finished second and third respectively. Chinese Taipei were fourth with four gold medals, while Sri Lanka were fifth.Qatar and Sri Lanka won three gold medals each, but the latter took fifth position by virtue of their number of silver medals – four, against Qatar's three.On Sunday , Qatar won two more silver medals – in the 400m hurdles and the high jump.In the 400m hurdles, Japan's Yusuke Shirao took the gold in a time of 50.52secs, just beating Qatar's Bassem Mohamed who clocked 50.55.Japan's Kyohei Tomori also also won the high jump, leaping 2.16m, while the silver went to Qatar's Nuh Abdulkadir Ibrahim who jumped 2.14m.Running at the front for much of the race, 18-year-old Nozomi Tanaka dominated the women's 3,000m as she cruised to a 9:04.36 win, clipping nearly six seconds from the previous championships record of 9:10.17 set by Lan Lixin of China in 1997. Tanaka, who has an 8:54.27 lifetime best set last year, was eighth over the distance at the 2016 World U20 Championships in Bydgoszcz.Yuna Wada was second in 9:14.13 to secure a 1-2 finish for Japan while further back, Liu Fang of China took bronze in 9:35.69.Another meet record came in the penultimate event, the women's 4x400m relay, and again courtesy of the host nation. Ayano Shiomi, Kasumi Yoshida, Natsumi Murakami and Ayako Kawata teamed to take a 3:38.20 win, shattering the previous mark of 3:39.24, set by China in 1997, by more than a second. Kawata and Shiomi finished first and third in the 800m on Saturday.India finished second in 3:41.11.Ajeet Kumar of India won the men's 5,000m in 14:15.24, a big personal best for the 19-year-old. Ren Tazawa of Japan was second in 14:17.26 with Iranian Seyedamir Zamanpour clocking 14:25.25, also a personal best, to round out the podium.Another Indian victory came in the men's triple jump courtesy of Kamalraj Kanagaraj, who nabbed gold with a 15.75m leap in the opening round. The 18-year-old has a 16.41m best from last year.Japan's Kyohei Tomori topped a personal best 2.16m to win the men's high jump over Nuh Abdulkadir Ibrahim Anuh of Qatar, who topped out at 2.14m.

Qatar's Samba wins 400m hurdles in Stockholm

Stockholm, Sweden, June 11, 2018- Qatar's Abderrahman Samba continued his stunning form in the 400m hurdles with a run of 47.41s to beat world champion Karsten Warholm of Norway (47.81s) into second in the Diamond League in Stockholm on Sunday.Samba not only improved his personal best, but also set a new Asian record.“I was looking for something special and I got it today," said Samba, 22, who has four Diamond League wins from four this year.

Qatar Youth team look for a seat in FIFA 2019 U-20 Wolrd Cup Finals , says Miguel

DOHA, June 10, 2018 – Qatar's Under 19 football team coach Bruno Miguel has confirmed on Saturday that the Youth team main target from participation in the upcoming AFC Under 19 football Championship will take place from 18 October to November 4 in Jakarta, Indonesia is to qualify to the FIFA 2019 U-20 World Cup scheduled in Poland.Miguel has explained that the team recent participation in Toulon International Football Championship 2018 was positive despite the results and defeats, added that the team saw a tangible improvement in its defensive line." It was very necessary to play against strong teams in Toulon Tournament in order to discover our defects and mistakes and make improvement and progress in all our lines" added Miguel.It is worth mentioning that Junior team participated in Toulon Championship in preparation for the upcoming AFC Under 19 football Championship will take place from 18 October to November 4 in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Qatari national team advance in FIFA monthly ranking

​Zurich, June 9, 2018 - The Qatari national team rose to three places in the monthly ranking of the International Federation of Football (FIFA) issued today for June, to finish at 98th place with 348 points.Germany remain top of the FIFA rankings, ahead of Brazil, Belgium, Portugal, Argentina, Switzerland and France respectively where the teams kept their positions, while Poland jumped to eighth and Chile retained ninth place and Spain dropped to 10th.On the other hand, the Tunisian team kept the top of the list of African and Arab teams in the rankings, despite the decline, a few days before their participation in the World Cup Russia, to be ranked 21st in the world, instead of the 14th.

Qatar national squash team line up for Asian Games

​DOHA, June 9, 2018- The Qatari national squash team began their training sessions in preparation for the 2018 Asian Games to be staged in Indonesia from August 18 to September 02.Yousef Al Malki, Deputy Head of Squash National Teams Committee said that the Qatari provisional squad includes Abdullah Al Tamimi, Abdulwahab Al Ishaq, Hamad Al Amri and Sayed Azlan.On the other hand, the Qatari U19 team will participate in the World Youth Squash Championship to be held in India in July 2018.The state of Qatar will be represented by Hamad Al Amri, Rashid Al Hareb, Ibrahim Al Darwish and Ahmad Al Meraikhi.