Qatar National Sport Day Webinar

As one of only three countries in the world to assign a national holiday for sports, Qatar National Sport day places great value on promoting a healthy lifestyle among its population. This passion for sports is imbedded into Qatar’s National Vision 2030 agenda; the objective being ‘to become a global leader in sports and bring the world together through sustainable sports development.’ 


Photo by Jadi - Qatar National Sports Day 2014

In 2020 Qatar, along with, the Principality of Monaco presented and succeeded in its bid for a United Nations resolution on, "Sport: a global accelerator of peace and sustainable development," in their capacity as co-Chairs of the Group of Friends of Sport for Sustainable Development. The resolution further highlights the importance of sports in enhancing development, peace, respect and tolerance, and achieving an active and healthy community.

 

  Photo by Jadi - QOC National Sports Day Facility | Qatar Olympic Committee


On 9 February 2021, the Embassy of the State of Qatar in London held a virtual panel discussion, live-streamed on the Embassy’s YouTube channel, as part of Qatar National Sport Day on the importance of sport in promoting a healthy society and how to combat the challenges faced by COVID-19.

The event is opened by Mr Mohammed Al Jabir, Minister Plenipotentiary/ Deputy Head of Mission at the Embassy of the State of Qatar in London.


The virtual event was chaired by Mr Chris Doyle, Director of Council for Arab-British Understanding (CAABU) and attended by special guest panellists, Ms Lolwa Al-Marri, President of The Qatari Women’s Sport Committee. Dr Mahfoud Amara, Chair of the Sport Science Programme and Associate Professor in Sports Social Sciences & Management at Qatar University. Dr J. Simon Rofe, Reader in Diplomatic and International Studies, Centre for International Studies and Diplomacy (CISD), SOAS, University of London. Ms Antoinette McKeown, Chief Executive, Sport Northern Ireland.

In his opening statement, Mr Mohammed Al Jabir expressed his delight at being able to hold the virtual event on such an important day for Qatar and acknowledged the struggles facing everyone across the world during the pandemic.

‘As sports brings us together, responding to an international crisis like COVID -19 makes it critical for people to work together, as no one country or community is immune from this pandemic, and to address its repercussions, it is required from all of us to work effectively. We are all one team when it comes to fighting the pandemic. ‘

Mr Al-Jabir was keen to impress the importance of Qatar National Sport Day as a unifying initiative.

 

‘We can all agree on the importance of sports to us now as individuals, communities and nations. Qatar has a national passion for sports and it is an integral part of the culture. National sport day is an opportunity to bring communities together through sports, based on the principles of team building, inclusion, unity, participation, fitness and health and discipline.’

On the FIFA World Cup 2022, Mr Mohammed Al Jabir was excited to discuss the importance of the tournament and the long term impact it will have on sustainable sports development on a global scale.

‘As the first country in the Middle East and Arab world to be hosting the FIFA World Cup 2022; we are dedicated to ensuring that the tournament leaves a positive human, economic, social and environmental legacy for the country.’

In reflecting on the current state of world affairs and the effects of COVID-19 Mr Mohammed Al Jabir noted that sports can be considered a remedy for the current pandemic in many ways, by boosting public morale and improving peoples’ mental health.’

Mr Mohammed Al Jabir further stressed the power of sport as a unifying factor in times of uncertainty and division, ‘sport is a multilateral interaction that is crucial to bringing together people in sporting events big or small. To get to know different cultures create new opportunities and support positive change.’ 

Mr Al-Jabir highlighted that ‘Qatar’s unique model of cultural diplomacy that has transformed sports into an ideal means for nations to gather in a communal spirit.’

In considering the value of promoting a healthy lifestyle among its population, the panellists were all keen to discuss the value of utilising sport as a vital and necessary apparatus for community cohesion and harmony; citing inclusion and diversity as key factors in achieving such unity.

 

Ms Lolwa Al-Marri, President of The Qatari Women’s Sport Committee spoke of her pride at watching Bahiya Al-Hamad, Qatar’s first female flag bearer at the London Olympics in 2012.

Ms Al-Marri also noted that ‘Qatar has invested heavily and generously in sports over the past years, not only for the upcoming FIFA World Cup, it goes deeper than that. Qatar is promoting sports as a way of life… and the mentality is changing.’

With regards to women in sports in Qatar, Ms Al-Marri affirmed that Qatar’s under 17 women’s football team, ‘have had many training opportunities with various clubs including Bayern München, playing friendly matches with the girls and participating with everything that is involved.’

Ms Al-Marri also reflected on how sports were able to remove the obstacles during the blockade on Qatar and bring fans together in the spirit of sports.

‘During the blockade that was happening in Qatar, we hosted the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council )competitions and we had fans coming from UAE, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, so even when the conflict was happening, sports was bringing people together and the fans were very happy. ‘

  

Ms Antoinette McKeown, Chief Executive, Sport Northern Ireland echoed the sentiments of the panellists on the importance of sport as a critical tool for breaking the barriers of division and discord.

‘In Northern Ireland, having come out of 30 years of conflict sports was used as a very strong mechanism to actually re-instil confidence in our society and young people and to teach them a different language, the language of the sports they were playing and to play by those rules and to have respect for the people they were playing with so all the aspects of teamwork, respect for the individual and respect for the other players was a language that we may not have been taught when we were growing up throughout the troubles.’

 

Dr Mahfoud Amara, Chair of the Sport Science Programme and Associate Professor in Sports Social Sciences & Management at Qatar University spoke of the investments being made into Sports Science programmes at Qatar University which have allowed for greater developments in research and community sport outreach projects.

Part of Qatar’s long term legacy strategy is in the importance it puts on research and on contributing to global analysis and information  gathering by publishing around one hundred and forty research and peer review publications on a yearly basis. ‘

‘The other important aspect is community outreach and community service particularly during the pandemic we have been doing awareness seminars and organising a number of seminars to promote physical activity and the importance of keeping fir not only in terms of health-wise but also in terms of emotional and psychological well-being.’

Dr Amara also wanted to highlight the diversity of students currently enrolled on various sports science programmes at Qatar University, especially the number of female students.   

‘Forty per cent of the student cohorts are females, this is important for when we talk about women in sports, there are many stereotypes that people have about Qatar;  in particular with regards to the question of women in sports and gender in sports and we have many female students who are very enthusiastic about being trained in sports sciences.’

 

Dr J. Simon Rofe, Reader in Diplomatic and International Studies, Centre for International Studies and Diplomacy (CISD), SOAS, University of London voiced his opinion on the notion of making sports such a key element of any government agenda.

‘It is worth to note how significant it is to make a national day for sports as part of your national purview. Qatar has made that commitment and backed those commitments in terms of time, by making it a holiday but also in term of finance terms. Qatar in their policies in terms of the Vision 2030 has placed sports on a particular understanding and making sure a profile that reflects its national character.’

On the upcoming FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar, panellists were keen to discuss the impact of holding such a global sporting tournament in the Middle East.

Dr Rofe complimented the leadership HE Hassan Al-Thawadi, Secretary-General of the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy, in his commitment to sports diplomacy and engagement, commenting that HE Al-Thawadi ‘makes a stand out case for engaging.’

Dr Rofe also highlighted the positive impact of the FIFA World Cup in the region as it opens opportunities for accessibility and communication.

‘The opportunity that Qatar has and is realising is to speak for a community and a region of the world that has not hosted a sport mega-event previously. I have hopes that it will help provide a new understanding of the small nation and enable us from different parts of the world to appreciate different cultural forms in a way we may not have otherwise. It will shine a light on Doha and the opportunity that it affords would not have come otherwise. I do see it as an opportunity for change. ‘

Responding to Dr Rofe, Mr Chris Doyle chimed in on the opportunities for change provided by Qatar as hosts of such grand sporting event, ‘the cricket stadium that is being put up for the Qatari workers, is something that has changed for the better and the improvements in workers right is one outcome of the World Cup.’

In response to Mr Chris Doyle’s question regarding Qatar’s readiness for the FIFA World Cup 2020; Dr Mahfoud stated, that ‘most of the stadiums are ready and being tested. Qatar has had a number of competitions to test all the facilities and FIFA has also announced that they were really happy with how things are progressing.’ Further adding that Qatar is ahead of schedule despite the pandemic and the previous blockade.   

Dr Mahfoud added that ‘in addition to all the stadiums being built, it’s important to also talk about all the other facilities that are being built around the stadiums, the community sports facilities, the walking and cycling path which during the pandemic became an attraction for people where they could practice sports. It is completely changing the lifestyle in terms of physical activities.’

The panel discussion ended with an all-round agreement that sports is universally essential for physical and mental well-being, as well as a mechanism for open communication and positive change.



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