QOC signs MoU with Serbian Counterpart

DOHA, January 4, 2018-The Qatar Olympic Committee (QOC) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and a cooperation agreement in the sport sector with the Olympic Committee of Serbia on Thursday.The MoU aims at reaching a new level of excellence in the world of sport through the exchange of knowledge and management expertise.The MoU was signed by HE First Vice President of the QOC Sheikh Saud bin Ali al-Thani and HE President of the Olympic Committee of Serbia Mr. Bozidar Maljkovic. The signing ceremony was attended by HE the QOC Secretary General Mr. Jassim Al-Buenain, HE Ambassador of the Republic of Serbia Mr. Jasminko Pozder, HE Vice President of the Olympic Committee of Serbia Mr. Zecevic Zarko, HE Chairman of International Relations Committee Mr. Merkic Ivan. HE Sheikh Saud bin Ali al-Thani said that the signing of the MoU confirms the depth of the relations between Qatar and Serbia, and that it “Will support sport partnership and boost cooperation between the two sides"HE Mr. Jassim al- Buenain stressed that the MoU comes in light of the QOC strategy to cooperate with different countries of the world for the benefit of our peoples and the renaissance of sport in our countries.

Qatar Football Association wins Golden Excellence Award

KUWAIT, January 5, 2018 - With great honor, Qatar Football Association (QFA) received Golden Excellence Award on Friday after being named as best Gulf sport federation during the Award Distribution Ceremony organized by the Gulf Sports Media Association (GSMA) on the sidelines of the Gulf Cup taking place in Kuwait.The Awards ceremony was organized at the conference hall of Sheraton hotel in Kuwait attended by Mr. Gianni Merlo, the President of International Sports Press Association (AIPS) along with senior Gulf sport officials.The GSMA also granted the best sport commentator award to the late Qatari commentator, Mohammed Al Lenjawi in share with Kuwaiti Tarek Al Mulla and Oman's Ahmed Al Ajmi.

Gasquet eases past Burgos in Qatar ExonMobil Open

DOHA, January 3, 2018-Former champion Richard Gasquet looked every bit a star player on Tuesday night when he beat Victor Estrella Burgos of Dominican Republic in straight sets in the opening round of the Qatar ExxonMobil Open 2018. Gasquet, who won the Qatar ExonMobil Open in 2013, posted a 6-0, 6-2 victory in just 51 minutes on the Centre Court. Gasquet, 31, fired 7 aces in the one-side clash. In what turned out to be a day of big upsets, the second and third seeds, world No. 10 Pablo Carreno Busta of Spain and Tomas Berdych of Czech Republic, were sent packing on a misty evening at the Khalifa International Tennis & Squash Complex on Tuesday.First to fall was Busta, who arrived in Doha with a lot of promise. The 26-year-old's big hopes were made to go bust by young and unseeded Borna Coric of Croatia after a 2 hour, 41-minute battle on the centre court. The second match on the same court saw Berdych being handed a return ticket by World No. 53 Jan-Lennard Struff of Germany after a 2-hour-8-minute match. Berdych won the opening set, lost the second and was eventually beaten in the tie-break of the final as Struff prevailed 6-4, 1-6, 7-6(4). Setting the tone to the story of the upsets was the former World No.1 Junior and currently World No. 48, Coric, who fought back after being a set down to beat Busta 5-7, 6-2, 7-6 (8).In what a rusty and nervy opener for both players, Coric showed patience and killer-instinct both as he used his powerful backhand game to eventually prevail in the 21-minute long tie-break saving two match points. The 21-year-old and six feet and one inch tall Coric has been making waves of late especially since his return from a right knee surgery in 2016. Somewhat tired after the long match, he termed his win against Busta as big."This is a huge win, for sure. Especially, since it was the first match of the season. I normally don't start the season very well, so I'm very happy. I'll take that," said the young Croat.Coric, who was named ATP's 'Star of Tomorrow' in 2014, won his first ATP World Tour title in 2017 saving five match points against German Phillip Kohlschreiber in Marrakech, in April. And he's begun this tournament in right earnest serving notice of his credentials.He's also beaten former World No. 1s Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal twice each besides making the third round of the Grand Slams at Roland Garros (2015 & 16) and at the 2017 US Open. While he said his win against Busta was huge, the one against Murray remains the best till date."You cannot compare it over the win with Andy. He was World No. 1 and stuff like that. So you cannot compare that," said Coric. Such was his keenness to excel that Coric won 27 out of 33 points and was pleased with that."That was my feeling as well. I was playing very good, to be honest. Luckily, I had played doubles yesterday. That might have somehow made it a little bit better because I had played many volleys in the doubles."Coric is placed in the bottom half of the draw which seems relatively easier than the top half. But the Croatian faces a challenge in Georgian Nikoloz Basilashvili (World No. 59), whom he plays next in the second round."I'm playing against a guy who beat me twice last year (at Cincinnati and Lyon). He's a tricky opponent to play. And I've also played very long match today, and it's also late now. So it's not going to be easy, for sure. So that's my main focus; that's my only focus, to be honest," said Coric on his road ahead in the Qatar Open.Meanwhile, 8th seeded Feliciano Lopez of Spain survived a scare against compatriot Guillermo Garcia-Lopez being taken the distance. Feliciano won the three-set battle 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (3) and will now meet qualifier Mirza Basic of Bosnia, who beat Austrian Andreas Haider-Maurer in straight sets.

Aspire Academy and Leeds United F.C. ink new unprecedented partnership

DOHA, January 4, 2018-Leeds United F.C. have officially joined forces with Aspire Academy in a unique partnership which aims to provide long term benefits to the club on the field performance.The partnership will see Aspire Academy provide support and insight in fields such as academy and youth development, performance analysis and sport science. The collaboration also allows the English Championship club Leeds United F.C. to join a network which features some of the biggest and best clubs in Europe.Director General of Aspire Academy and Leeds United F.C. Board Member Ivan Bravo said: “Both Aspire and Leeds United F.C. share ambitious goals for becoming a reference of excellence in football. It is truly motivating to see that by joining efforts, both organisations can accelerate their growth on the field, including in the development of elite youth players with potential to represent club and national teams at the highest levels."Leeds United F.C. Managing Director Angus Kinnear added: “This is an exciting partnership for Leeds United F.C., you only have to look at the quality of the program and facility in Qatar to realise that having access to the Aspire Academy is going to be beneficial to our long-term vision for the club. We also now join a network of clubs which can only help us to develop and grow."Aspire Academy was established to produce the next generation of elite Qatari athletes, identifying and training them to fulfil their potential, particularly in the years leading up to the 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar.

Bayern Munich’s training session in Doha attracts hundreds of fans

DOHA, January 4, 2018-Aspire Zone's outdoor football pitches witnessed an influx of local, regional and international football fans as hundreds of keen spectators showed up to watch Bayern Munich's first open training session yesterday.The German Bundesliga giants arrived on Tuesday night for their eighth annual winter training camp in Doha, which will run until January 7. This year's training camp attracted Bayern Munich fans from numerous countries, including fan association members from Qatar and others who flew to Doha from Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Algeria and Kuwait. Bayern Munich will hold their open training sessions at 11am today (Jan 4), 10:30am tomorrow (Jan 5), and 10am on Saturday (Jan 6) and Sunday (Jan 7). On Saturday evening, the team will also play a friendly match at 5pm on Pitch 05 against Qatari club Al Ahli SC. In addition to Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain, AZF's facilities have attracted visits from many other major clubs, including the likes of Manchester United, Schalke 04, Zenit Saint Petersburg, Shanghai Greenland Shenhua FC, KAS Eupen and Cultural y Deportiva Leonesa.Meanwhile, there was a brief heart-in-mouth moment for Bayern as they began training yesterday. Goalkeeper Sven Ulreich suffered a blow to the middle finger of his right hand and had to leave the pitch early. The diagnosis confirmed the goalkeeper only has a light sprain. His return to training is dependent on how the swelling of his finger goes down, but the team do not fear he will be out for a long period of time.Ulreich has been standing in for the injured Manuel Neuer, who is recovering from a foot fracture but is walking without crutches again. He stayed in Bavaria along with Thiago Alcantara, who has been out with a muscle tear. Coach Jupp Heynckes also has Robert Lewandowski (knee) and Mats Hummels (adductor) in the treatment room. Hummels was able to take part to light running exercises yesterday while Lewandowski was in the weights room.However, the arrival of striker Sandro Wagner from Hoffenheim means there may be no need to rush Lewandowski back. Bayern, who are 11 points clear of Schalke at the top of the table, return to action on Friday, January 12, with a trip to Bayer Leverkusen.

HH the Emir attends part of Qatar ExxoonMobil Open

DOHA, January 4, 2018 – HH Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the Emir attended part of the competitions of the 26th edition of Qatar ExxonMobil Open held at Khalifa international Tennis and Squash complex on Wednesday.The 26th edition of the Qatar ExxonMobil Open is turning out to be disastrous for the seeded players, but not for World No. 5 and top seed Dominic Thiem, who continued to stay on course and take his appointed place in the quarter-finals with a straight sets win over Slovenian Aljaz Bedene on Wednesday.With cool winds at the Khalifa International Tennis & Squash Complex making fans brave the chill, the Austrian Thiem provided enough to warm the hearts as he outclassed Bedene 7-5, 6-4 and make the last eight of his first tournament of the 2018 season.Bedene, who switched to Slovenia from Great Britain just last month, didn't have much change in fortunes in the match except for a good attempt in the opening set against the top gun. On his part, Thiem had 15 break points, including 10 in the second set but he converted only three of those opportunities.Thiem was, however, pleased to have cleared the hurdle."The first set was good I converted break points fine," said Thiem, who was two-for-five on break points in the opener."But in the second set, I think I missed too many chances. In general, I'm very happy," said the 24-year-old.Unlike Thiem, Day Three of the tournament wasn't as pleasing for the other seeds Spaniards Fernando Verdasco (7) and Feliciano Lopez (8), who fell by the wayside losing to Russian Andrey Rublev and qualifier Mirza Basic of Bosnia & Herzegovina respectively. The 20-year-old Rublev improved his record to 2-1 against Verdasco winning 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 saving seven of 11 break points to book the next clash against Croatia's Borna Coric.The 21-year-old Coric, who knocked out second seed and World No. 10 Pablo Carreno Busta in the first round, routed Georgia's Nikoloz Basilashvili, 6-1, 6-3 breaking his opponent five times.Also joining the last eight brigade was Peter Gojowczyk of Germany, who had shown the exit to 6th seed Filip Krajinovic of Serbia (6-4, 6-1) in a late match on Tuesday.The 28-year-old and 60th ranked German set aside Italian Matteo Berrettini 6-2, 6-2 and will meet the winner of Gael Monfils (FRA) and Jan-Lennard Struff (GER) match which was going on at the time of going to the press.Thiem will play fifth-seeded Frenchman Richard Gasquet or Greek qualifier Stefanos Tsitsipas, who were to play the final evening match on Wednesday.