QOC
The countdown for the third edition of Team Qatar's Flag Relay, to be held on December 13, began on Tuesday. The event, organised by the Qatar Olympic Committee (QOC), is being held as part of this year’s Qatar National Day (QND) celebration.
The 2019 Team Qatar Flag Relay will commence early in the morning of the day from the QOC Headquarters and it will pass through the Corniche, Qatar Foundation, Katara Village and the Hamad International Airport where the flag will then be handed over to a pilot heading to Tokyo where team Qatar is due to participate in the next Summer Olympic Games Tokyo 2020.
The icon event, which will be accompanied by a number of sports events, will bring together elite athletes, schoolchildren, members from different communities and the general public who will have the opportunity to carry the Qatari flag during the relay.
A number of Qatari ace athletes including World Champion Mutaz Barsham and Abdulrahman Samba have been named by the QOC as the Flag Relay Ambassadors and participants will have the opportunity of interacting with them at close quarters during the event.
Registration for the event, which aims to attract over 5,000 people from different segments of the society, is already open and interested participants can register via QOC’s social media platforms @Qatar_olympic.
The 2019 Team Qatar's Flag relay rounds up a year of major sporting achievements for Qatar. Among the many feats recorded this year was the crowning of the national football team as the Champions of Asia at the 2019 Asian Cup in the UAE, Mutaz Barshim emerging as the new World Champion in men’s high jump and Abdurrahman Samba claiming the men’s 400m hurdles bronze at the 2019 World Athletics Championships in Doha. Besides these, a number of Qatari athletes, including Barshim, Samba, Abubaker Hayder, Qatar high jumping team and shooter Mohammed Al Rumaihi, secured qualification for the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympic Games.
The second edition of the Team Qatar Flag Relay, which took place last year, including athletes and retired athletes and school students. The flag toured more than 300 kilometers across Qatar and it involved a number of sports activities including bicycles, running, swimming and others.