DOHA: The Organizing Committee of the Olympic Day School held a coordination meeting yesterday afternoon at the headquarters of the Olympic Committee to a announce the details of the ninth edition of the program which will be held this year under the slogan – “Sport and Media”.

Mohamed Essa Mohamed Al Fadhala Executive Director of the Schools Olympic Program (SOP) said the last nine years have been a great success.

“We take pride in the fact that our Schools Olympic Program has been so successful especially in the recent years that it has set the benchmark for other countries to follow” Al Fadhala said.

“We have been receiving queries and requests from our the other nations of the Arabian Gulf in this regard. In fact UAE Oman and Saudi Arabia have already started implementing the SOP in line with our knowledge and technical know-how” he added.

“Thanks to the support and insight shown by our officials that the SOP program has been hugely popular in Qatar. Since its inception the number of participants have increased.

“My heart swells with pride in stating that fact that the SOP is successfully running in 279 boys and 263 girls schools across Qatar” he said.

Confirming the existence of a comprehensive strategy in order to register schools Al Fadhala pointed out: “We have been using the ‘Information Program’ that is part of a global framework in registering schools students and teachers for SOP. The program operates both on a collective and individual basis. Currently there are 13 different categories of games for students to choose from.”

Speaking about innovative steps taken for the upcoming 9th Edition of Schools Olympic Program he added: “Many new ideas and programs will be added to the SOP in the new season which kicks off in October this year and concludes in March 2016.”

“As part of the Ambassadors Program the Organizing Committee will choose prominent athletes from across different Olympic Sports and their experiences and ideas will be effectively utilized in inculcating the Olympic Spirit amongst the students.”

Shedding light on the Organizing Committee’s “Road to Rio” he said that it aims to provide a spirit of competition among the participants through quizzes designed around Olympic Sports.

The winner will get a chance to travel to Brazil for Rio Olympics next year.

In addition to that the winner will get an opportunity to work with the media delegation that is in keeping with the slogan ‘Sport and Media’.

Al Fadhala urged the World Food Program Executive Director Ertharin Cousin and various media organizations to contribute towards providing students the opportunity closely work with media persons and reporters in order to gain useful knowledge so as to help them choose media as a vocation in future.

He praised Olympic Academy that has been involved in such an exercise by way of conducting workshops and seminars designed around “Sport and Media”.

It is worth mentioning that the number of students who participate in the Olympic program topped the 29000 mark.

Out of this figure only 20 percent are enrolled at sports clubs whereas 80 percent are not.

Officials are keen to encourage students to feature at sports events - whether at school or at tournaments - in an attempt to include exercise in their daily routines. THE PENINSULA