JUSTINE EYES DOHA RETURN - Qatar Olympic Committee

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News in Brief Qatar’s paddlers trained at Aspire in preparation for the West Asian qualification matches taking place in Jordan in which the winners will qualify for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and the World Championship to be held in China in February 2008. The sessions were organised by the Qatar Table Tennis federation, which has also planned outdoor training camps in Germany and Spain later this year. The national bowling team put in a series of top class performances at the Qatar International Open Bowling Tournament hosted by the Qatar Bowling Center in January. Qatar head coach, Franc Buffa of Canada was pleased with the performances as Qatar gears up for the Asian Championship and World Cup which are scheduled for later in the year. Scotland’s Andy Murray won the $1.05m Qatar ExxonMobil Open 2008. The third seed beat the Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka in the final at the Khalifa Tennis and Squash Complex. During the Championship, Anil Khanna, president of the Asian Tennis Federation said that if the sport is to become truly global the possibility of a fifth Grand Slam in Asia should not be ruled out. The New Year’s sporting calendar in Qatar teed off on January 4 when 128 golfers form 26 countries took part in the 22nd Qatar Open golf tournament at the Doha Golf Club. The tournament is one of the most prestigious events on the GCC amateur circuit and attracts players in large numbers every year. The event was sponsored by Commercialbank and Pearl Qatar. Some of the world’s best fencers featured at the fifth edition of the Qatar International Fencing Tournament Grand Prix 2008, which took place in January at the ASPIRE Academy for Sporting Excellence. Participating countries in this year’s tournament, including a 12 member squad from Qatar, increased to 41 as compared to last year’s 31. The bold and the beautiful Qatar’s sports facilities have won accolades in the world’s most prestigious sports architecture awards. Qatar’s outstanding outdoor and indoor sports facilities won two of the most prestigious prizes in sports architecture when the ASPIRE Dome and Khalifa Stadium won silver and bronze awards respectively at the 20th International Association for Sports and Leisure Facilities (IAKS) Congress. The Doha venues finished in the medal places in the 2007 contest, involving 88 sports and leisure facilities from over 27 countries. Having successfully hosted the 15th Asian Games in 2006, Qatar finished ahead of all other competition from the Gulf Co-operation Council region. “The facilities have become a fantastic symbol of the continuing growth of the region,” said Dr. Thomas Flock, ASPIRE Director General. “These iconic buildings are also part of the attraction for the hundreds of visitors to the Aspire Academy in recent months.” Designed by French architect, Roger Taillibert, the multi-purpose ASPIRE Indoor Hall is home to the ASPIRE Academy for Sports Excellence and boasts the world’s largest indoor sports dome. Covering 290,000 square metres, it stands 46 metres high and seats 15,000 spectators. Within the ASPIRE complex’s facilities there are one indoor and seven outdoor football pitches, an athletics track, an Olympic-sized swimming pool, diving pool, combat arenas, gymnastics arena, specially designed weight rooms, lecture halls and dormitories to accommodate up to 1,000 students. As part of the 250-hectare ASPIRE Zone sports precinct built for the 15th Asian Games, the venue hosted seven sports during the Doha 2006 event - badminton, gymnastics, wushu, wrestling, kabaddi, boxing and cycling. Also designed by Roger Taillibert, Doha’s 50,000-capacity Khalifa Stadium is acknowledged as the best of the region’s sports stadiums. The host venue for the track and field contests and the Opening and Closing Ceremonies for Doha 2006, the stadium is uncovered around three-quarters of its circumference, but can comfortably host any outdoor event. During the Games the facility unveiled the largest custom-made LED screen ever used for a live event. At 165 metres-wide and 39 metres at its highest point, the screen provided a spectacular backdrop for the action. HE Sheikh Saoud Bin Abdulrahman Al- Thani, the Secretary General of the Qatar Olympic Committee, received the medals from IOC Deputy President, Thomas Bach, at the ceremony in Cologne, Germany, last year. “This achievement is a matter of great pride for all Gulf sports fans, as Qatar was the only Arab State that entered the IOC competition,” said Sheikh Saoud. “The high standard of architecture is one component among many that have contributed to Aspire’s international reputation. Gaining the silver medal further demonstrates the Academy’s emergence as a major landmark in the sporting world.” The prestigious awards, sponsored by IAKS and the International Olympic Committee, have been awarded every two years since 1987 and are known as the only architecture award of international importance for existing sports and leisure facilities. 10 QatarSport Q1.08
Q1.08.news NIGHTRIDERS TO MAKE HISTORY Qatar will host the first ever night-time MotoGP race when the Commercial Bank Grand Prix of Qatar comes to the Losail Circuit, March 7-9. The glamour and excitement of the fifth Qatar Moto GP will feature the world’s greatest riders in a high-speed night ride unprecedented in the championship’s 48-year history. The staging of the race will involve what is believed to be the biggest lighting project in the world for any sporting event – almost four thousand lights will be used to ensure visibility and remove shadowing from the track. “This is obviously a major project for Qatar and we are proud to be able to say we will hold the first Grand Prix event under lights”, said QMMF president, Nasser Khalifa Al-Attiyah. “While this is great for the country’s image as a whole, it also means our track can be used in the hot summer months and we hope this opens up more opportunities for other motorsports events in the future.” The potential for a night race at the championship was first investigated at last year’s Qatar Grand Prix, when the three permanent riders on the MotoGP Security Commission (Valentino Rossi, Kenny Roberts Junior and Loris Capirossi) tried out the Losail circuit on street bikes during full darkness to evaluate its feasibility. The third longest track in the GP series boasts a 1km long straight in which the racers can hit 330 kph, but the organisers are assured that the riders will be able to see as well as during the daytime - and may even come to prefer it. The night time race will allow for better synchronisation with European television schedules and further enhance the prestige of the Qatar MotoGP. QATAR KICKS OFF WORLD CUP CAMPAIGN Qatar’s national football team was set for a testing start to its qualifying campaign for the 2010 FIFA World Cup with an away game against Asian Football Confederation new-boys Australia, in Melbourne in early February. The qualifying group, which also includes surprise AFC champions Iraq and China, has already been dubbed the ‘Group Of Death’ by the Australian media whose national team switched to the Asian Confederation from the Oceania group only last year. Australia, ranked 42 in the world, will inevitably start as favourites but Qatar’s Asian Games gold medal wining team will certainly not be overawed. Qatar’s first home game is against Iraq in Doha on March 26 and a tremendous crowd is expected to see the match-up with the team which won the hearts of the world with their unexpected Asian Championship triumph. The Qatar national team is currently ranked 81 in the world by FIFA, the governing body. Qatar Football Association President, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani was impressed by the team’s performance in a recent draw against Iran but acknowledged that it will be a tough battle against Australia. “We hope to play well against Australia. We will miss the injured players but the coach will have to make the best use of the players at his disposal,” he said. Q1.08 QatarSport 11
Page 1: QatarSport Q1.2008 the official mag
Page 4 and 5: Sheikh Saoud Bin Abdulrahman Al-Tha
Page 6 and 7: News in Brief The Qatar National Ha
Page 8 and 9: News in Brief HE Sheikh Saoud Bin A
Page 12 and 13: Above: Doha’s striking Aspetar Sp
Page 14 and 15: 14 Q1.08 QatarSport “I had experi
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Page 19 and 20: o o o o o o o o o women in sport Th
Page 21 and 22: o o o o o o o o o sport FOR ALL in
Page 24 and 25: BUILDING THE FOUNDATIONS OF QATAR S
Page 26 and 27: BRIEFING - THE QATAR OLYMPIC COMMIT
Page 28 and 29: QTEL - RAISING QATAR’S PROFILE
Page 30 and 31: o o o o o o o o o flying the flag O
Page 32 and 33: www.globalsportfund.com Sport— a
Page 34 and 35: WHY UNIVERSALISATION IS the key to
Page 36: the big interview Lamine Diack - co

JUSTINE EYES DOHA RETURN - Qatar Olympic Committee

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