Lolowa Al-Meghaiseeb and Meriem Guettat
The 13th Schools Olympic Program (SOP) began at the Aspire
Zone. The SOP, which is a national programme that covers all the Qatari
schools, will take place for over six months.
The competition is an annual program that combines the
efforts of Qatar School Sports Association (QSSA) and Ministry of Education and
Higher Education. The SOP aims to spread a culture of sports throughout the
schools and engage the entire community in active and healthy lifestyles while
retaining local values and traditions.
This year’s events will feature students compete in 12
sports in the boys section and 13 in the girl’s. Football, basketball,
volleyball, handball, tennis, table tennis, fencing, gymnastics, athletics,
swimming, chess and taekwondo.
The SOP goes in line with other initiatives undertaken by
Qatar as part of the Qatar National Vision 2030. At the Opening Ceremony, Qatar
Olympic Committee (QOC) Secretary-General Jassim Rashid al-Buainain said that
the continuity of SOP shows objectives achieved so far through the event.
The ceremony was held in the presence of Chairman of the SOP
Organising Committee Sheikh Khalifa bin Khalid al-Thani and members of the
committee, Chairman of Qatar School Sports Association (QSSA) Rabia Mohamed
al-Kaabi and the Chief Executive Officer of Aspire Zone Foundation Mohamed
Khalifa al-Suwaidi.
Al-Buainain stressed on the importance of SOP and pointed
out that the programme is supported by President of Qatar Olympic Committee HE
Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad al-Thani, and that there is considerable interest from
the IOC partners in the programme, namely the Ministry of Education and Higher
Education and Aspire Academy.
Al-Buainain said that “There is co-operation between clubs,
federations and schools, and that they consider the education sector as an
important sector in the sporting career. There’s many sporting talents
discovered by the programme and may be used in the future. However, it isn’t
the only goal, and there are other goals such as creating awareness of sports
and maintaining a healthy lifestyle.”
The Chairman of the SOP Organising Committee Sheikh Khalifa
bin Khalid al-Thani said that new edition of the SOP will aim to be better than
the previous editions. He added that the event has produced a good response,
with a record participation among students, as well as schools, which serves
its goal of sports in all schools in order to increase sports awareness.