‘We will leave no stone unturned to see other Qatari athletes stepping on podiums at the next Olympics’

Qatari woman has amazing record of sport achievements, how do you evaluate women’s sport journey in Qatar? In the past, Qatari women were performing spor...

Qatari woman has amazing record of sport achievements, how do you evaluate women’s sport journey in Qatar?In the past, Qatari women were performing sports at schools as there was not an entity taking charge of their sports tournaments until the first ever women’s sport committee was founded. Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser Al Missand established the Qatar Women’s Sport Committee as one of the entities affiliated to the Supreme Council for Family Affairs. In 2001, the Committee joined the Qatar Olympic Committee by a decision from HH the President of the QOC to increase women’s participation base and elevate their international participation to new heights. In the QOC, we believe in equality between men and women in sport and it is the QOC’s long term strategy which will help Qatari women enjoy full rights to practice sports. Qatari women’s debut sport appearance was at the 14th Asian Games in Busan, where they showed great performances and results. Qatari women kept their successful sport run going in the Algeria Arab Games 2004 where they won a number of medals. Two years later, they claimed a number of medals at the Doha 2006 Asian Games. Most notably, Qatar’s women handball team claimed the gold medal in the West Asian Games 2016. Also, Qatari women raised up the scale of challenges to bring glorious achievements in table tennis, basketball, handball, the latest of them was at the GCC Games held in Kuwait.At the Olympic Games level, Qatari women’s debut appearance was at the Olympic Games London where we fielded four athletes and Qatar’s shooter, Bahiya Al-Hamad, was the county’s flag bearer at the Games. Two Qatari women competed in rowing and athletics at Rio 2016 and in Tokyo 2020 where Tala Abujbara qualified and set a new personal record. Constant follow-up of the Qatar women sport activities is going ahead as per the QOC strategy.Tokyo 2020 Olympics is over, do you have any long-term plans to prepare Olympic champions to follow the steps of Mutaz Barshim and Fares Ibrahim and win medals in the future?Firstly, our three medals that we won in Tokyo will be a new starting point for the Qatar sport movement. Secondly, preparing new Olympic champions needs a big effort and promising talents with the skills to reach international standards and compete in the Olympic Games. We have promising talents and staff in more than one sport, and we are sparing no effort to work cooperatively with the sport federations and Aspire Academy to develop the skills of talented age groups in order to reach similar levels of Mutaz and Fares. We will leave no stone unturned to see other Qatari athletes stepping onto podiums at the next Olympic Games. We know it is not an easy task, but with determination we will make success possible. We turned the Tokyo page and started evaluating Qatar’s administrative and managerial participation in the Games in our quest to help secure more success and bring greater achievement to Team Qatar. As usual, after any participation in multi-sport games, we assess the level of participation from all perspectives in order to develop positive aspects and solve any negatives (if found). Everyone is responsible for their tasks, and I am also responsible for any defect. Together we shall keep working hard to achieve the QOC’s message and vision as per its strategy. To make this strategy effective, the QOC has started working tirelessly on its strategy of national teams for the 2030 Asian Games. We are building a strategic frame, setting systematic executive plans to develop the athletes’ performances, improve their personal care, meeting their needs, caring about their educational, professional and health career, as well as following-up on their performance appraisal day by day to ensure that the objectives are met and major outcomes were reached.Last June, before Tokyo Olympics, the IOC named Doha as a vital center of COVID-19 vaccination services, tell us about that role?We are very proud of our fruitful cooperation with the IOC in all fields as this cooperation will help us to promote the Olympic Movement worldwide together. We highly appreciated the big efforts made by the IOC and Japanese authorities to organise the Olympic Games in a safe environment.In regards to the provision of COVID-19 vaccination services to athletes who couldn’t be immunised in their countries of origin, this initiative was positively received by other National Olympic Committees (NOCs). In order to make this initiative possible, the QOC arranged with local authorities like Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Public Health and Hamad International Airport along with international coordination with the IOC and Pfizer corporation. We’re truly proud to appreciate this amazing cooperation with these authorities, we succeeded to provide vaccination to a number of international athletes, after arriving at Hamad International Airport and holding a short-term training camp in Doha.There is a strong partnership between the QOC and Olympic Refuge Foundation, Doha has played a host city to the training camp of the Refugee Olympic Team ahead of their departure to Tokyo, how you see this partnership and training camp?The QOC is a founding partner of the Olympic Refuge Foundation and we are keen to provide refugees with an opportunity to engage with sport. This initiative came from HH the Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, to name Doha as the host city to 29 members of the Refugee Olympic Team who ultimately competed in 12 sports at Tokyo 2020. During a three day training camp held at Aspire Zone, those athletes had a workshop on the Olympic Games which was also attended by a number of IOC officials. This training camp was scheduled last year but it was postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. This was the second participation of the Refugee Olympic Team in the Olympic Games as their debut appearance was at Rio 2016. We are truly proud of their impressive performances at Tokyo 2020, they made great performances in athletics, wrestling and other sports. We will keep providing our contributions to the Olympic Refuge Foundation in every possible way. We truly believe in the empowering role sport can play, especially in these challenging times.Qatar won the rights of hosting the 2030 Asian Games for a second time after the 2006 edition and the unparalleled success QOC had made, so what can Qatar bring to Asia through these Games?The 2006 Asian Games were a turning point in the history of the Qatar sport movement. It was also a significant turn in the Asian sport landscape, and was praised by many for its world-class technical and organisational level. We hosted the 2006 Asian Games that produced a lot of talent and administrative staff who are now a key element in the development of Qatar today. Our legacy from the 2006 Asian Games played a crucial role in the progress of the country, which meets with the Qatar 2030 national vision.Our self-confidence was the driving force behind our desire to host the 2030 Asian Games, because all factors and elements of success we need are available to help up organise an exceptional Games. We have world-class infrastructure, sport facilities, sport venues and highly-motivated administrative staff ready to host one of the biggest sport’s events in the world. Doha’s bid won the right to host the 2030 Asian Games after a tough competition with our brothers and sisters in Saudi Arabia, and this win proved Asia’s confidence in Qatar’s organizational assets. The Doha 2006 Asian Games bid impressed not only Asia, but the whole world. I’m confident that the 2030 Asian Games will be a better, greater and more memorable event than ever before.Now, we are moving forward and ready to organise an exceptional continental event, we have the infrastructure, the accumulated experience, the sports venues, roads and metro networks and Hamad International Airport (HIA), which includes our world leading national carrier, Qatar Airways with its vital flights that link the country with the whole world. Our advanced and sustainable city also has world class plans for the Athletes Village. When we say Doha is Games ready, we truly mean it.Everyone knows how COVID-19 pandemic has hit the world dramatically over the last two years, causing the cancellation and postponement of a lot of sport events, but Qatar kept its leading role as it hosted a number of major events. How you did that?COVID-19 created significant challenges worldwide and affected a lot of sectors, including the sport sector, and it resulted in the cancellation of a lot of tournaments across the world. Amid this unprecedented pandemic, Qatar has constantly proved it is a capital of global sport as it hosted a lot of tournaments. This included the FIFA Club World Cup, AFC Champions league, Diamond League Doha, in addition to a number of continental and international tournaments being organised with effective countermeasures to keep participants safe. On this occasion, I would like to thank the Supreme Committee for Crisis Management and the Ministry of Public Health for their cooperative effort with us as we hosted these tournaments. We are so proud to have these motivated and qualified officials able to deal with the toughest of challenges and obstacles they face. Most notably, the QOC in its cooperation with the sport federations developed a number of plans to keep the necessary programmes running for clubs and national teams during that period. The QOC’s work pace went on uninterrupted as per the conditions and preventive measures taken to provide safety for all. So, I can say, Qatar is one of the countries that turned the corner to beat the pandemic.