The Peninsula
A special book titled ‘Qatar: Legacy and Vision’ is set to be handed out to media personnel and guests attending the hugely popular Copa America football tournament starting in Brazil this week, details showed yesterday.
The book - which has the photograph of the Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani on the cover - will be supplied at the June 14-July 7 tournament in four languages.
Qatar and Japan are making their debut at what is the oldest football tournament.
Hosts Brazil will be joined by Argentina, Uruguay, Colombia, Chile, Peru, Venezuela, Paraguay, Ecuador and Bolivia at the three-week tournament.
The distribution of the book - on the sidelines of the Copa America - is an important occasion to promote the cultural and heritage view of Qatar. The country’s history and geographical location are also well captured as are details on tourism and economy.
The book comes ahead of Qatar’s preparations to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup and the country’s rapid yet slick preparations to host the 32-team event are also well captured.
The book provides a comprehensive overview of the country’s most prominent achievements in the field of sports and how Qatar has become a sports capital by hosting top class events for more than two decades.
Doha, the host of the 2006 Asian Games, remains a popular sport-loving destination for any visitor. Last October, Doha hosted the 2018 Artistic Gymnastics World Championships at Aspire Dome.
Having already hosted the 2010 IAAF World Indoor Championships, the 2011 AFC Asian Cup, the 2015 AIBA World Boxing Championships and the 2016 UCI Road World Championships, last year’s gymnastics gala was one of the most followed global sports events staged by Qatar.
In all, over 600 gymnasts from 78 countries featured in the 10-day event. In September this year, the iconic Khalifa International Stadium will host the IAAF World Athletics Championships Doha 2019. A little over a week ago, it was announced by FIFA that it’s popular Club World Cup event will also be held in Qatar in 2019 and 2020.
The book - which will be distributed among the journalists covering the tournament - has been published in English, Arabic, Portuguese and Spanish.
The tournament will be attended by hundreds of sports journalists from the participating trounces featuring in the tournament.
The book consists of 136 pages. Details on Aspire Academy and Aspetar Sports Medicine Hospital have also been documented in the book. Notes from prominent sports media personalities are also included.
Qatar’s ‘2030 Vision’ also gets an in-depth mention in the special book.
A big Qatar Football Association (QFA) delegation is also in Brazil along with the Qatar football team that reached Rio de Janeiro more than two weeks ago. In addition to the book, journalists and media personalities covering the Copa America will get a 32GB flash memory, it was said yesterday.