Qatar Junior Tennis team shine in Davis Cup Pre-Qualifying

Colombo, March 11, 2018-Qatar's junior tennis team qualified to the 2018 Asia Oceania Qualifying event of Junior Davis Cup to begin in Thailand on March 26.The Qatari team secured their place in qualifying event after taking the second place in the 2018 Asia Oceania Pre-Qualifying concluded in Colombo, Sri Lanka on Saturday.In the final match, Qatar suffered a 1-2 defeat against hosts Sri Lanka.Ibrahim Al Sulaiti, Rashed Nawaf, Nasser Al Yafei represented the state of Qatar in the event.Khalid Al Khelaifi, Chairperson of National Teams Committee congratulated the players on their qualification to Davis Cup Qualifying event to be held in Thailand later this month.“We will provide our players with all possible support to qualify to the next level," Al Khelaifi said.

SOP Shooting competitions for boys conclude

​DOHA, March 11, 2018 – The shooting competitions for preparatory and secondary schools (boys) at the prestigious Schools Olympic Program 2018 were concluded at the Losail shooting Arena on Thursday.HE Rabea Al Kaabi, the Chairman of SOP Organizing Committee, Mohammed Taher, the executive director of Qatar Shooting and Rowing Federation and Ibrahim Al Mohannadi, the director of SOP Shooting competitions attended the event.At the preparatory schools level (pistol event) , Omar bin Khattab school claimed the gold medal and silver medal went to Ibn Khaldoon school. While in rifle event, Ibn Khaldoon took the gold medal and Omar bin Khattab seized the silver medal.At the secondary school level (pistol event) Qatar development bank school claimed the gold medal and Qatar Technical school took the silver medal. In the same stage in rife event, Mosaab bin Omeir school won the gold and Sumaisma school claimed the silver medal.At the victory ceremony, HE Rabea Al Kaabi honored the top three winners in each stage in a festive sport scene reflected the country's profound attention to develop the school sport.The SOP is striving to achieve the ambitions of the Qatar National Vision 2030 and the National Development Strategy to increase sports participation and promote an active healthy lifestyle in Qatar.SOP aims to educate schools, teachers, parents and students about the Olympic values of friendship, respect, hard work and leadership through entertaining and informative activities, presentations and contests.

Doha Asian Junior Squash Open 2018 concludes

DOHA, March 9, 2018-The competitions of Doha Asian Junior Open 2018 came to an end at the Khalifa Tennis and Squash Complex on Monday.Pakistan dominated the titles of the three-day tournament that also featured the participation of players from Iran, Jordan, India and hosts Qatar.The state of Qatar was represented by Jaber Dawood, Hamad Al Amri (19 years), Waleed Zaman, Ali Al Dosari, Ahmad Al Meraikhi (17 years), Yousef Essam, Abdulrahman Al Maraghi, Abdulrahman Khalaf (15 years), Abdulaziz Al Thani, Khalifa Al Janahi, Yousef Al Kebaisi, Hamad Al Amri (13 years), Ali Awdah, Tamim Al Janahi and Abdulaziz Al Bani Hassan (11 years).Pakistan's Mohammad Aziz claimed the first place in U19 years category after beating his compatriot Abbas Zeeb.In the final match of U15 years category, Pakistan's Hamad Khan overpowered Mohammad Al Saraj of Jordan.Qatar's Ali Awdah claimed the title of U11 years category after defeating his compatriot Khalid Al Hamadi in the final match.The Tournament Director Saad Al Mohannadi said, “The Qatar Tennis, Squash and Badminton Federation is keen to host this type of tournaments to help our players develop their skills"“The federation spares no effort to provide the Qatari players with all possible support and to promote squash in the state of Qatar. “He added.

Asia men and women lead in Bonallack and Patsy Hankins Trophies

DOHA, March 9, 2018-Asian men and women amateur players competing for the Bonallack and Patsy Hankins Trophies had the best of the start to their three-day campaign in Qatar.Asia-Pacific leads by one point over Europe on day one of the Bonallack Trophy at Doha Golf Club on Thursday.Oliver Gillberg and Angel Hidalgo secured Europe's only win of the morning session with a 2&1 victory over Gregory Foo and Kazuya Osawa. Finnish duo, Sami Valimaki and Matias Honkala, who teed-off first forthe European side, managed to secure a half in their match, while Asia-Pacific won the other three matches to win the session 3.5-1.5.In the afternoon foursomes, wins from Robin Dawson & Marc Hammer, Catherine Edgar & Frederic Lacroix, and Kristoffer Reitan & Rasmus Hojgaard allowed the European side to claim the session 3-2, and close the gap to their opponents to just one point.Meanwhile in the women's section, Asia-Pacific leads by four points over Europe after day one of the Patsy Hankins Trophy in Qatar.In the morning fourball session, Bianca Fabrizio & Blanca Fernandez were the only pair to score points for the European side, defeating Wenbo Liu & Du Mohan 3&2, meaning Asia-Pacific would hold a four-point lead heading into the afternoon.Frida Kinhult & Amanda Linner, Zhen Bontan & Elena Moosmann, Puk Lyng Thomsen & Annabell Fuller, Bianca Fabrizio & Blanca Fernandez all halved their foursomes matches, taking Europe's total to three points.Gudrun Bjorgsvindottir and Clarisse Louis, who teed-off first in the lost 6&5 to Atthaya Thitikul and Yuka Saso, leaving the final score for the day at 7-3 to Asia-Pacific.

Qatar’s Cherif, Ahmed storm into Katara semis

Doha, March 9, 2018- Qatar's leading duo of Cherif Younousse and Tajin Ahmed continued their pursuit of a home FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour medal when they reached the semi-finals of the 4-Star Katara Beach Volleyball Cup yesterday.Cherif and Tajin won three matches in one day, and it culminated in them fighting back to beat Poland's Michal Bryl and Grzegorz Fijalek 2-1 (15-21, 21-15, 15-10) to reach the semi-finals.The 4-Star Katara Beach Volleyball Cup runs from March 6-10, and is taking place at the Katara Cultural Village. It is the fourth time that Doha has hosted an FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour tournament, following competitions in 2014, 2015 and 2016.“I'm so tired, but I gave my best until we go there," Tijan said.“It will be the same tomorrow and we will give our best to be in the final because it is a beautiful venue and I want to carry on playing here.“In the first set the guys were serving so well and that made receiving hard. But we started to play better in the second set and used our service to pressure them. It gave us opportunities and they started to make bad passes and bad receptions and that gave us the chance to get up and block them."Their win sets up a clash against Alex Brouwer and Robert Meeuwsen. The Dutch duo were pushed all the way by Brazil's Saymon Santos and Alvaro Filho, but eventually they held their serve to win 2-1 (19-21, 21-19, 22-20). Brouwer and Meeuwsen are chasing their second World Tour medal of 2018 having won bronze at The Hague 4-Star tournament at the start of the year.“We had to play with our guts and put our heart on the court," Brouwer said.“To be in the semis is a big reward, but it is just the start.“We just had to keep pushing and we played with guts and took a few risks and I'm really happy with the win. It was important we regained focus on the things we want to improve, and each training session in pre-season was fully focused.“We want to win tournaments this year, so hopefully we can start here."Number one seeds Phil Dalhausser and Nick Lucena survived a marathon first set to eventually beat Polish pair Piotr Kantor and Bartosz Losiak 2-1 (37-35, 13-21, 15-6) after Kantor and Losiak were forced to pull out through injury.They will now meet Russia's Oleg Stoyanovskiy and Igor Velichko, who beat Latvia's Aleksandrs Samoilovs and Janis Smedins 2-0 (21-15, 21-13).Meanwhile, Pablo Herrera and Adrian Gavira are set to celebrate their 10th anniversary as a team and hope to use it as a springboard to further success on the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour.At the back of the Spaniards' minds is the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. Qualifying through the World Tour begins in 2019 and runs till midway through 2020.Should they qualify it will be the 35-year-old Herrera's fifth Olympic Games, and his third in tandem with Gavira. In doing so he would be the first male to play in five Olympic Games.He won silver alongside Javier Bosma at Athens 2004, and while he will be nearer his 40s than his 20s by the time the action starts at Tokyo 2020, he admits to taking inspiration from other players on the Tour who are over 40.“We feel good in and out of the court and this year is our 10th year together and it still feels like the first one," Herrera said.“We're happy together. We have a good relationship on and off the court. We are friends, almost brothers and I think that is the key.“Look at John Hyden, he is 45 I think and he is still like a young player, it is crazy. My knee is fine and it doesn't give me any problems any more.“It will be difficult to qualify, we will need to be in top condition next year and then we'll see."Herrera and Gavira are currently competing in the 4-Star Katara Beach Volleyball Cup in Doha and showed that they are nearing their best with a 2-0 (21-15, 21-17) win over Italy's Paolo Nicolai and Daniele Lupo, who last week won silver at the 5-Star Fort Lauderdale Major.Their most recent podium finish came at the 2017 3-Star Hague tournament where they won silver.They are among the most consistent teams on the Tour and last week reached the Fort Lauderdale quarter-finals.“We have to improve our block-defence," Gavira said.“We aren't so tall, so it sometimes makes blocking hard. Then if we don't side-out well we get nothing, so we really need to work on our side-out," he added.

Exciting start to Qatar Open table tennis

DOHA, March 7, 2018 - The qualifying rounds of the Men's and Women's Singles of the 2018 ITTF World Tour Platinum Qatar Open, which includes 34 groups from the top of the standings to the 64th round, began at the Ali Bin Hamad Al Attiyah Arena in Doha on Tuesday.Every player in the qualifiers is expected to play two matches en route the main rounds which begin on March 8.In one of the highlights of the day, France's Alexandre Robinot, winner of the Men's Singles event at the 2018 French National Championships, defeated Jeoung Youngsik, winner in the GAG Group 2015 ITTF World Tour in both Australia and Korea, in four straight games (11-8, 11-5, 11-8, 13-11) while England's Liam Pitchford accounted for the defeat of China's Xue Fei, crowned World Junior Champion just over three months ago in Riva del Garda. Pitchford emerged successful in a quite monumental contest (7-11, 11-5, 7-11, 11-6, 7-11, 20-18, 12-10) to register a memorable win.For Qatar's national team player Abdul Aziz al Hajjaji, who was playing in Group 33, the tournament did not start on a good note as he lost 0-4 (11-4, 11-6, 11-5, 11-2) to Portugal's Joao Monteiro while his compatriot Nawaf al Maliki, a promising player in Group 32, lost to India's Joshua Sumagit by 1-4 (11-9, 6-11, 7-11, 4-11, 5-11).Elsewhere, Qatar's promising star Mohamed Abdel Wahab, who is a professional in Denmark, was pipped by Hong Kong's Nam Park in Group 30, which also includes strong Austrian player Robert Gardos. He lost 0-4 (5-11,2-11,4-11,5-11) to Park.In the women's event, Sweden's Li Fen, crowned European champion in 2013 in Schwechat, Austria, got off to a flying start with her defeat of No. 59-ranked Germany's Sabine Winter.The 41-year-old, listed at No. 205 on the current Women's World Rankings, won in six games (10-12, 11-9, 10-12, 11-5, 11-3, 11-3).China's Zhang Rui and Sun Mingyang also excelled. Zhang Rui beat Spain's Maria Xiao (11-5, 11-2, 11-5, 12-10) and Mingyang accounted for Hungary's Szandra Pergel (11-8, 11-4, 11-5, 11-9). Miyu Nagasaki defeated Szandra Pergel.