DOHA – The sixth edition of the Qatar Open Taekwondo Championship will get underway on Sunday at the Ladies’ Sports Hall in Doha, bringing together 1,152 athletes from more than 46 countries for four days of competition across four age categories: cadets, juniors, youth and seniors. The championship will run through Wednesday.

Organized by the Qatar Taekwondo, Judo and Karate Federation, the championship is classified as a G-1 event, offering valuable world-ranking points. The field comprises 697 male and 455 female athletes, including more than 20 Olympic and world champions.

The four-day competition will feature 76 weight categories across the four divisions, with morning and evening sessions followed by daily medal ceremonies.

The cadet, junior and youth divisions each feature 10 weight categories for boys and 10 for girls, while the senior division comprises eight weight categories each for men and women.

Qatar will be represented by six national-team athletes: Noor Mohammed, Maram Al Fetnasi, Widad Al Dosari, Ali Emam, Mohammed Ashraf and Mohammed Yassin Bali. They will be joined by 113 athletes representing local clubs.

As part of their preparations, Qatar’s national-team athletes attended overseas training camps in Spain and Egypt, complemented by domestic training programmes, and competed at the Asian Games in Japan.

The Federation also organized an international training camp in Doha from October 12 to 16, bringing together teams from Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Kuwait, Yemen, Côte d’Ivoire and Burkina Faso.

Supervised by Olympic coaches from Egypt, Spain and Tunisia, the camp focused on improving athletes’ technical skills and physical readiness while facilitating the exchange of coaching expertise ahead of the championship.

Speaking at a press conference in Doha, Adel Al Marzouqi, Executive Director of the Federation, confirmed that all organizational and technical preparations had been completed, including arrangements for the competition venue and accommodation for participating delegations.

Al Marzouqi expressed his satisfaction with the strong turnout for this year’s edition, describing it as more attractive than its predecessor. He noted that the championship had established a strong international reputation thanks to the high level of competition and the importance of the world-ranking points at stake, which can help athletes improve their global standings.

He added that the success of the previous edition had provided fresh impetus for further development while raising expectations for the organizing committee to deliver an even stronger championship in terms of technical standards, organization and administration.

Al Marzouqi also highlighted the significance of the championship’s international participation, describing it as an important opportunity to enhance coaching standards and increase the international exposure of athletes from the GCC countries and other Arab nations.

He further welcomed Qatar’s substantial representation, emphasizing its contribution to developing taekwondo and expanding the sport’s grassroots base across the country.

Commending the success of the pre-championship training camp, Al Marzouqi said it had provided valuable preparation for participants by strengthening their technical capabilities and physical readiness. He expressed confidence that the sixth edition would be successful on all fronts and wished all competitors the very best.