Qatar Tennis Team to participate in Davis Cup

DOHA, March 25, 2018-The Qatari Men's Tennis Team will fly to Hanoi, Vietnam on Sunday to participate in the 2018 Davis Cup Asia/Oceania Zone Group III to begin on April 02.The Qatari delegation to the event includes Mousa Shanan, Mubarak Shanan, Essa Shanan, Jabor Al Mutawa, the team captain Mohammad Khenji and the Head coach Younes Al Aynoui.The 2018 Davis Cup Asia/Oceania Zone Group III will feature the participation of nine countries including Qatar, Malaysia, Kuwait, Cambodia, Jordan, Oceania, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Vietnam.As per the ITF rules the participating teams in the 2018 Davis Cup Asia/Oceania Zone Group III will be divided into two groups where the winners and runners-up will qualify to Group II.Qatar's Mousa Shanan stressed that the Qatari national tennis team will hold a training camp in Hanoi in preparation for the event.

HH the Emir Shooting Championship concludes

DOHA, March 25, 2018-The competitions of HH the Emir Shooting and Archery Championship were concluded at the Losail Ranges on Saturday.Ahmed al Shammari bagged the fourth gold medal in the event, winning the Centrefire Pistol title.He beat Mohammed al Tamimi to the second spot while Ali Morshed secured the bronze medal of the event.More than 100 shooters and archers contested in the annual event. Trap finals for men and women capped the action on the final day. Angelo Scalzone got the better of Saeed Abusharib to win the men's crown, while Rashid came third.Amna al Abdullah returned to the top of the podium after a long time when she claimed the Women's Trap title. She defeated Bin Ali and Noura al Ali clinched the bronze medal.In the archery competition, Farhan al Saadi, Ahmed al Abbadi and Khan qualified for the final. Farhan al Saadi won the gold, beating Ahmad al Abadi.

HH the Emir Shooting Cup 2018 continues in style

Doha, March 21, 2018-The training sessions of 10m Air Rifle and 10m Air Pistol events at the HH the Emir Shooting Cup were concluded at Lusail International Shooting Complex on Tuesday.The training sessions were attended by; Ahmed Al Shammari, Abdulaziz Al Shammari and Mesfer Al Marri. Zain Al Sanani, coach of Qatar national pistol team said that tournament is a platform for young shooters to begin their professional careers. “We prepare a group of young shooters to participate in international championships." he added.

Top Gymnasts eye glory in FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Cup

DOHA, March 21, 2018-Japanese legend Kohei Uchimura will be the centre of attraction over the next four days at the Aspire Dome, as FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Cup will kick-off in Doha from today.Uchimura does not usually participate in many events outside major championships but the 10-time world gold medallist and triple Olympic champion is entered for the apparatus World Cup in Doha. Uchimura is entered for every event except for the high bar in Doha as he resumes his rivalry with world champion Xiao Ruoteng.Chinese star Ruoteng became the first gymnast in nine years other than perennial favorite Uchimura to win a major all-around title in Montreal last year. But it was after Uchimura injured his ankle and withdrew during the qualification round. The 28-year-old Uchimura had won a six successive world all-around titles, but missed out in Montreal, Canada, following a bad fall in the second qualifying event.With the World Championship to be held in Doha in October, Uchimura will be keen to get one over Ruoteng this weekend, as he plots his world championship gold medal back at the same venue later this year. Men's Olympic and World Vault champion Ri Se Gwang and 7-time Olympian Oksana Chusovitina are the other star attractions. Uzbekistan's 42-year-old Chusovitina is upbeat ahead of the Doha event. “I've been preparing all-around and will be performing all-around events at all competitions and all four apparatus," Oksana said. Oksana's fans likely to watch her in all the four women's events. At 42, Chusovitina is still a bundle of energy and amazing fitness level. At last year's edition in Doha, she beat Australia's Emily Little and Slovenia's Teja Belak – gymnasts half her age – to win the vault gold. Chusovitina already has her eye on the Asian Games in August and record-breaking eighth Olympics in Tokyo 2020. Oksana won a gold with Uzbekistan team at the 1992 Barcelona Games.Meanwhile, Belgium's uneven bars bronze medallist Nina Derwael is among other World Championship podium finishers entered to compete.The 17-year-old Derwael became her country's first gymnast to win a World medal when she won bronze.Ferhat Arican, who became the first Turkish male gymnast after 108 years to compete at the 2016 Rio Olympics, is hoping for a medal in Doha. Arican won a bronze in parallel bar at the World Cup in Baku, Azerbaijan last Sunday and will be hoping for a repeat in the Doha leg. “It's a great feeling to win a medal in the first international competition of the year. I'll be going to Doha with a lot of confidence after winning a bronze in Baku," Arican said. Arican's teammate Ibrahim Colak also had an impressive outing in Baku, where he won silver medal in rings. Colak, who won a bronze in rings at the 2015 European Games, said: “I had a mild discomfort on the knee and a neck injury almost ruled me out, but in the end I could finish second. We have bigger goals as a team this year. We will try our best to win medals." Hosts Qatar will be represented by young gymnasts Ahmed Nabil and Jana al-Kiki, who will be taking part in the event for the second time. The 11th edition of the World Cup is an important one for Qatar Gymnastics Federation (QGF), which will also organise the World Championships in October later his year. The QGF is looking at this tournament as a test event for the marquee event. The QGF president and chairman of the organising committee Ali al-Hitmi said all things are in place for the championship to start.“We are ready for the launch of the championship. The Organising Committee has completed all the arrangements for the championship and everyone is waiting for the tournament to start," al-Hitmi said.“We're proud to host this annual event. It has strengthened Doha's position as the venue of world's top class sports tournaments," said al-Hitmi, who is also a FIG Executive Member. The qualification rounds will be held on first two days of the championship, with eight best gymnasts making it to the finals and will strive for medals on the last two days of the competition.

Qatar excel at MENA Special Games

Abu Dhabi, March 21, 2018-The Qatar Paralympic team has scripted history by winning 12 medals, including five gold, at the Middle East and North Africa Special Games in Abu Dhabi. The three-day event finished yesterday with 35 countries in the region vying for honours in a wide range of sports. Faisal al-Marri and Jaralla Dharman won gold medals in bowling, while the other gold medals were claimed by Salma Hammad (girls shot put), Hamad al-Jaber and Mohamed Mahmoud (weightlifting). Member of Qatar's Paralympic Committee board Mohamed al-Dosari praised the team for their achievements and thanked HH the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani and Qatar Olympic Committee President HE Sheikh Joaan al-Thani for their support for sportsmen and women with special needs. “This is a tremendous achievement for us because almost 650 athletes took part in the event," he said.

Ice on desert soil: Qatar set to be face of curling in MENA

DOHA, March 21, 2018-ICE, broom and a granite rock, one wonders what they all have in common. but all these items put together make for an olympic sport called 'Curling' with over 500 years history dating back to 16th Century scotland. Curling is a sport in which players slide stones on a sheet of ice towards a target area which is segmented into four concentric circles (it's like archery on ice). Two teams, each with four players, take turns sliding heavy, polished granite stones, also called rocks, across the ice-curling sheet towards the house, a circular target marked on the ice. Each team has eight stones, with each player throwing two. The purpose is to accumulate the highest score for a game; points are scored for the stones resting closest to the centre of the house at the conclusion of each end, which is completed when both teams have thrown all of their stones. A game usually consists of eight or ten ends. most importantly, how does this sport concern Qatar? Well, the Qatar Winter sport Committee has a thing or two to say about this. Lajos belleli is the man tasked with the coaching and development of curling in the country. He is an accomplished curler who made over 200 appearances with the Hungarian national team, won the national championship seven times, and was one of the founders of the technical committee in his homeland. He was also coach of the Hungarian team. “We started the curling programme here almost three years ago. The QoC actually gave birth to this dream and it has been an interesting journey," belleli said. The team also recently marked their first practice anniversary; amazingly, it was on February 29 2016 (which was a leap year).Qatar was the first country from the MENA region to join the World Curling Federation a feat the Hungarian is proud to highlight. “This country is the face of the sport in the Gulf and we want to be a leader in the sport right here. one day, we hope to fly Qatar's flag in the olympics," he said. An unusual sport with no local history, how did he get the players? “I went to the universities and asked, “do you want to do something cool?," belleli says.Curling has no age limit. You can be 80 and still participate, and most importantly uphold the spirit of sportsmanship which is the main tenet of the sport. Right now, the national team has 25 curlers, both male and female teams all Qatari, (between 18 and 38 years). The team uses the ice track at Villagio mall for practice, which isn't entirely an ideal curling venue. belleli says the QoC and the government are working towards building a facility for winter sports. Last year in Australia, Qatar recorded its first international win against Kazakhstan. “I remember that moment. our skip (skip is the team captain and he/she directs the shots to be played) was in superb form and the team delivered. I think we got more attention and respect considering how far we have come in such little time," says belleli.