(MENAFN - Qatar News Agency) Qatar Telecom (Qtel) has hosted a special award ceremony to honour the Qatari athletes who earned a gold, silver or bronze medal at the Arab Games 2011, which concluded in Qatar last week.
As Diamond Sponsors of the 12th Arab Games, Qtel played an integral role throughout this major sporting event, which sees athletes from across the Arab World come together every four years to compete in 33 sporting disciplines.
The ceremony was held at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Doha on Tuesday, with 110 athletes from the Qatar squad in attendance along with event hosts HE Sheikh Saoud Bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Chairman of the Higher Organising Committee, The 12th Arab Games, Doha 2011 and Secretary General of Qatar Olympic Committee, and HE Sheikh Abdullah Bin Mohammed Bin Saud Al Thani, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Qtel.
HE Sheikh Abdullah presented all Qatari medal-winners with a monetary gift to reward these Qatari athletes, who this year helped to set a record-breaking total of medals won by Qatar.
"We at Qtel see each medal won as a matter of great pride to our country. As a nation we continue to grow in our sporting ambitions and it is important that we support these wonderful achievements," said HE Sheikh Abdullah Bin Mohammed Bin Saud Al Thani.
"Qtel continues to champion sporting events here in Qatar as we believe that they have the power to bring the community together and encourage all to lead healthy lifestyles.
We congratulate all of our athletes who took part in the Arab Games and we look forward to more sporting success in the future," he added.
The Qatar athletes who were awarded gold at the Arab Games will each receive QR15,000, those that won silver medals will each receive QR10,000 and bronze medalists were each given QR5,000. The gifts to these athletes were in addition to Qtel's sponsorship of the Arab Games 2011 and were given to encourage each competitor to invest this money to further his or her own sporting ambitions.
With a total of 32 gold, 38 silver and 40 bronze medals, Qatar finished fourth on the medal table, the highest they have ranked at any Arab Games.
