Al Duhail defeat Al Wahda in AFC Champions League

UAE, April 18, 2018 - Qatar's Al Duhail completed the 2018 AFC Champions League group stage with an impressive 100 percent record, after Abdelrahman Fahmi's goal gave them a 1-0 win over Al Wahda of the UAE at Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium on Tuesday.Al Duhail head coach Djamel Belmadi handed starts to a number of youngsters and one of them almost repaid his trust in the 21st minute. Abdullah al-Ahrak had a free header following Mourad Naji's cross, but it was saved by Al Wahda keeper Mohamed al-Shamsi.The reply from the visitors came through star man Balazs Dzsudzsak, who produced two brilliant attempts in the space of one minute. First, the Hungarian sent a scorching effort at goal from 30 yards out, and then, he tried to curl one in directly from a corner. However, Amine Lecomte was alert on both occasions to keep the ball out.The hosts were handed an advantage in the 39th minute when Al Wahda defender Salem Sultan was sent off after pulling down Youssef El Arabi who was through on goal.Al Duhail took advantage of their numerical superiority and opened the scoring just two minutes into the second half, as young winger Fahmi netted with aplomb following a fine give-and-go with El Arabi.The match saw little action at either half thereafter, and only came alive in the 84th minute, when Al Duhail were also reduced to 10 men after Lucas Mendes was shown his marching orders.The decision had no effect on the result and Al Duhail held on to clinch their sixth straight victory and become just the fourth side in history to win all their group games in the AFC Champions League.Belmadi's men will now play Group D runners-up Al Ain in the Round of 16.On other hand, Qatar's Al Gharafa ended their 2018 AFC Champions League journey on a positive note after coming from behind to register a 3-1 win over Iran's Tractorsazi Tabriz Tuesday.In a battle between two teams, who had already made their exit from the tournament, it was Tractorsazi who showed urgency early on and it was they who made the breakthrough. Just after the half hour mark, the Iranian side took the lead for the first time in this year's campaign after Mohamed Iranpourian dispatched a penalty, which had been awarded for a foul on Amir Arsalan Motahari.Al Gharafa's attempts to get back into the game were led by Mehdi Taremi, who eked out multiple openings but was denied by Tractorsazi custodian Farzin Karousian on each occasion. Tractorsazi held on to their slim advantage up until the 70th minute, when Al Gharafa turned the game around in the space of seven minutes.Bulent Uygun's side had Moayed Hassan to thank for it, with the winger first curling in a free-kick over the wall to level the scores before turning provider six minutes later. Taremi's through ball sent Hassan racing through towards an advancing keeper and he duly squared it across for Abdelaziz Hatem to tap into an empty goal.Taremi then finally got something to show for his efforts on the night, when he sent a fierce strike past Karousian in the 87th minute to make it 3-1 and register his fifth goal of the campaign.Al Gharafa thus finished level on points with second-placed Al Jazira in Group A, but lost out on a Round of 16 spot due to an inferior head-to-head record with their rivals. Tractorsazi ended up at the bottom of the group after failing to muster a single win throughout the tournament.

Al Shamal to face Al Arabi in Emir Basketball Cup Semifinals

DOHA, April 18, 2018 – Four teams are in fray for the semifinals encounters of the prestigious HH Emir Basketball Cup Championship 2018 at Al Gharafa indoor on Wednesday.In the first semifinals match , Al Shamal side will lock horns against Al Arabi, while in the second clash, Al Wakrah will shake hands with Al Gharafa.All competing teams ambitiously looking to get top honors to reach the final stage of the gracious competition.

Qatar Cricket team off to Kuwait for World Cup qualifiers

​DOHA, April 18, 2018 – Qatar Cricket team delegation will leave Doha to Kuwait on Wednesday to participate in the Asian Regional qualifiers for ICC twenty20 World Cup.The team delegation is chaired by Issa Al Yagoob, the public relations director at the Qatar Cricket, Rugby and Hockey Federation accompanied by administrative staff members and 14 players.Qatar team will face United Arab Emirates counterparts in the opening game on Friday and will play the hosts Kuwait on Saturday.

Qatar team ready for Arab Youth Athletics Championship

DOHA, April 17, 2018 – Qatar youth team completed all technical and managerial arrangements to participate in the upcoming Arab Youth Athletics Championship 2018 will get underway in Amman, Jordan on Thursday.Qatar team is represented by elite young athletes including Saoud Abdulaziz Al Homaidi in (110m steeplechase), Jabir Hilal in (100m and 200m events), Abdulrahman Al Khater (100m and 200m events) , Mohannad Khamis ( 3000m steeplechase and 1500m) along other names in discus throw, high jump and shot put.In a pre-event press release on Monday , Mr. Khalifa Abdulmalek, the board member of Qatar Athletics Federation has confirmed that Qatari young athletes are ambitiously looking to honor the country in this prestigious event.

QOC President awards the winners at Arabian Camel Festival

DOHA, April 17, 2018 - His Excellency, Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad Al Thani, the President of Qatar Olympic Committee (QOC) crowned the winners of the Emir Cup Sword events at the ongoing Arabian Camel Festival at Al Shahaniya Racetrack on Monday.In Monday's competitions, Al Shahaniya camels dominated the scene to win the titles of two main races in the morning period .In the evening competitions Al Shaaniya camels kept their winning streak to clinch the trophy of one main race.The hugely popular event continues on Tuesday with morning and evening competitions at the same venue.

QOC President launches new Events Management System

DOHA, April 17, 2018 – The Qatar Olympic Committee (QOC) President HE Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad Al Thani, inaugurated on Monday a new events management system for sports and other events to be hosted under the umbrella of the QOC.The launch ceremony also attended by the QOC first-vice president Sheikh Saud bin Ali Al Thani, the QOC second-vice president Dr. Thani Abdulrahman Al-Kuwari and the QOC Secretary General Jassim Rashid Al Buenain besides heads and secretaries of a number of sport federations.At the launch ceremony, Jassim Rashid Al Buenain , Secretary-General of Qatar Olympic Committee, confirmed that the launch of the event management system will facilitate in the hosting and management of various sporting and other events organised by the different federations and sports committees. It also aims to maximise effort, time and cost to the organiser.Al Buenain added that the inauguration of the event management system is in line with Qatar Olympic Committee's keenness to ensure management of sports competitions with a high level of professionalism. Ibrahim Al Jafairi, Director of Information Systems Department at the Olympic Committee, gave a detailed explanation of the event management system which will facilitate the management of various events. He stressed that activating this programme in the sports field is the first step before activating it with partners in other sectors including financial, administrative and logistical, through which events can be well organised regardless of their type or size.He also noted that the event management system was used in its first phase in a number of sporting events held in Qatar, such as the World Handball Championships 2015, the World Boxing Championships 2015 and the National Olympic Committee Meeting (ANOC) 2016, and the World Cycling Championships in the same year. The system was also used at the Qatar House event at the recent Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, 2016.The Director of the Information Systems Department at the Qatar Olympic Committee (QOC) revealed the training of a number of staff members from various administrative disciplines at QOC and qualified them to work on the event management system in order to ensure the greatest possible benefit to the QOC strategy aimed at creating a generation of Qatari sports leaders and creating an ideal environment To attractand develop the best talent and expertise.On his part, Major General Dahlan Al Hamad, Vice-President of the International Federation and Chairman of the Asian Athletics Federation, praised the inauguration of the Qatar Olympic Committee for the event management system, stressing that this system is the latest in the management of sports events and championships.He added that the IAAF does not have such a sophisticated system, which reflects that the Qatar Olympic Committee is advanced in the development of modern systems in line with the requirements of all tournaments, noting at the same time that the event One of the most important features of the event management system is the facilitation of procedures and the provision of effort, time and financial cost, building a generation of Qatari youth capable of successfully managing events and sports championships, continuous improvement of operations to enable effective governance and management, benchmarking and performance indicators, documenting and electronic archiving and the ease of extracting reports and statistics of the tournament.