(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Developing women's sports is at the heart of Qatar Olympic Committee's (QOC) future plans, it was announced at a special gathering of promising Qatari athletes.
Handball player Hannah Al Bader was presented to the media by President of the Qatar Women's Sport Committee (QWSC), Ahlam Al Mana, who were joined GCC Beach Games hero Mohamed Saleem, and prodigious swimmer Yacoub Al Kholaifi.
Speaking at the ceremony, Sheikh Hamad bin Abdulaziz Al Thani, Head of Media at QOC, said Qatar was rapidly developing bench strength in most Olympic disciplines.
"The international success over the last month of so many of Qatar's athletes shows the strength and depth of the talent that continues to progress through Qatar's sports development system," Sheikh Hamad said.
"The Qatar Olympic Committee is committed to sharing this success with our nation in order to create sporting heroes and role models that will inspire the youth of Qatar and unite everyone across Qatar in celebration of their achievements.
"Profiling the success of our female athletes is particularly important as it will help to encourage more young females to participate in sport and empower them to fulfil their potential," he said.
Ahlam Al Mana presented to the media about the role of the QWSC in increasing female sport participation and improving the performance of Qatar's female athletes. Al Mana highlighted the recent success of Team Qatar at the GCC Women's Games, which were held in Muscat, Oman from March 8 to 18, which saw Qatar win 30 medals € 4 gold, 12 silver and 14 bronze.
The Games are held every two years and the Qatari delegation has grown in size and improved with performance with each edition.
The 2017 GCC Women's Games will be held in Doha, Al Mana said.
"We are extremely proud of our athletes especially since almost all of them are university students, so they have to maintain a delicate balance between competing and keeping up with their studies € this places immense pressure on them," Al Mana said.
"Yet despite this pressure, year after year our athletes are continuing to improve and achieve great things on a local and regional level," she added.
Following her presentation, Al Mana held a discussion with Hannah, the handball star that took home the gold medal in the 4th GCC Women's Games and was a Young Ambassador for the 2014 Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing.
Hannah said: "This is the first time that handball has been included in the GCC Women's Games, which makes our gold medal win an even bigger achievement. While it is always an honou r to represent Qatar, my biggest hope for the future is to see more young girls and women play handball competitively and fulfill their potential."
Sheikh Hamad continued the briefing by highlighting the success of Doha's hosting of the Games and of Team Qatar's performance at the Games.
Over 300 athletes from six GCC countries participated in 13 events across seven sporting disciplines.
The Games provided an opportunity to raise the awareness of Beach sports locally, regionally and internationally and inspire young people across the GCC through live sporting action. Qatar won a total of six medals in the Games - four gold, one silver and one bronze.
Qatar's gold medalist in 3x3 basketball competition at last week's Beach Games, Saleem yesterday said basketball industry in the country was moving in the right direction.
"It's an incredible feeling to win the gold medal in 3x3 basketball for the second time in the GCC Beach Games," Saleem said.
"The competition was very fierce but our team trained tirelessly and worked hard to be where we are now. We started off as the underdogs in the 2014 World Championships in Moscow and we overcame our defeat to Romania in the first match to eventually win the tournament. We could not have achieved these things without the complete support of the federation and the hard work of all involved," he added.
Fourteen-year-old swimming sensation Al Kholaifi, who won two gold medals, one silver and one bronze medal at the recent Arab Swimming Championships in Dubai, said he endured a tough competition.
The young swimmer has been winning medals for Qatar since he was just nine, when he won gold and silver at the Qatar Open Swimming Championships.
"The 12th Arab Swimming Championships in Dubai were very competitive," Al Kholaifi said.
"The best swimmers from the Arab world went head to head and I am happy with my performance as not only did I win medals for Qatar but I also set a new Championship record and a personal best in the 200m butterfly event. My ultimate dream is to take part in the Olympic Games and I'm working very hard to make that dream a reality," he added.
With the Asian Youth Athletics Championships and IAAF Diamond League taking place in Doha next month, together with the Qatar Cup finals in volleyball, football and basketball, the exciting sporting action is set to continue.
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