Doha: The finals of the eighth edition of Schools Olympic Programme will take place from today until Friday, with more students participating this year.
Hundreds from 221 schools will compete in the finals of 14 disciplines, with the tennis finals today at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex, which recently hosted World Schools Tennis Championships and WTA Qatar Open, and finals in all other sports at Aspire Dome.
The finals for best female student athletes will be held on Thursday and those for male students on Friday and will be open to the public.
The Qatar Olympic Committee (QOC) is encouraging everyone to show support for talented young athletes.
The sporting action on Friday begins at 9am with the top student athletes in football, taekwondo, goalball and shooting competing to become Schools Olympic Champion.
Taekwondo athlete Ibrahim Al Oulan, 15, from Doha Independent Preparatory School, said: “This will be the third Schools Olympic Programme I’ve competed in and they are always so much fun. I love taekwondo and still have my whole career ahead of me. The programme gives me an opportunity to test my skills against the best athletes of my age and this will prepare me for coming competitions as I hope one day to be a member of the national team.”
Established in 2007 following the successful 15th Asian Games in Doha in 2006, the programme comprises multi-sport competitions in Olympic and Paralympic sports among students aged 5 to 18.
Sports include tennis, shooting, athletics, handball, volleyball, table tennis, basketball, football, gymnastics, fencing, swimming, para-athletics and para-table tennis.
This year saw taekwondo added, bringing the number of sports to 14.
Mohamed Al Fadala, Executive Director of the programme, said: “We wish all finalists the best of luck. We hope they will benefit from experience in competing against top student athletes, make new friends from across Qatar and enjoy the celebration of school sport, creating memories that will live with them forever.
“We are pleased with the growth of the programme since it began in 2008. This shows its success and popularity and this year’s finals will be bigger and more exciting.
“It is our aim that the programme spreads Olympic values, educates through sports and develops healthy and responsible members of society.
“We hope to see more students taking part next year and reap benefits of the programme.”
The programme has grown from 7,000 participants from 300 schools in its inaugural edition in 2007-2008 to 26,454 from 461 schools last year.
It aims to introduce students to sport at the grassroots level, educating them through Olympic values and ensuring that sport become an integral part of their lives. It also serves as the first level on Qatar’s sporting pathway and the identification and development of young talent is a key objective.
Former participants include World Indoor High Jump Champion Mutaz Barshim, Rahma Al Dulaimi, who represented Qatar in last year’s Youth Olympic Games, and Mariam Farid, the young hurdler who this week won silver in the GCC Women’s Games.
For this year’s programme to tie in with the theme ‘Sport and Peace’ and as part of its commitment to develop sports worldwide, QOC has invited 20 students from Georgia for an all-expenses paid trip to attend the finals, meet Qatari students and share sporting experiences.
They will have the chance to tour state-of-the-art facilities and cultural landmarks, ensuring an interesting and educational experience. This is in light of a memorandum of understanding signed between Georgian Olympic Committee and QOC.
This year’s programme also witnessed the nation’s biggest Paralympic Day earlier this month, with over 800 student athletes from 66 schools taking part in para-athletics, para-table tennis and goalball competitions.
Paralympic Day celebrated Doha’s hosting of IPC Athletics World Championships by giving students the chance to compete on the same track the world’s best Paralympic athletes will compete in October, in the last major event before Rio 2016 Paralympic Games.
The finals on Friday will also feature family-friendly activities by theme partners Reach Out To Asia (ROTA), a member of Qatar Foundation and the programme’s partners.The Peninsula
