Lolwa Al Marri, Chairperson of Qatar Women’s Sports Committee.
DOHA: Buoyed by heart-warming performances in recent times, Qatar is eyeing medal-winning efforts from their ‘well trained’ female athletes at this year’s Asian Games to be held in Indonesia.
Last year, hosts Qatar topped the GCC Women’s Games medals tally by accumulating 60 medals (21 gold, 20 silver and 19 bronze).
“For this year’s Asian Games, we are looking for medals. God Willing, we will do well and win medals. Hopefully in athletics,” Lolwa Al Marri, Chairperson of the Qatar Women’s Sports Committee (QWSC), said in an exclusive chat with The Peninsula.
“We have extended our girls the right amount of preparation in terms of facilities and training camps. We are hopeful we will get medals. The coaches have prepared them really well,” she added.
Excerpts from a Q&A session with the QWSC Chairperson:
Please tell us something about your plans for the Asian Games this year?
We will take part in basketball (3x3), athletics, shooting and table tennis. We will have a big number of girls going to Indonesia. We have sent our list of athletes to the Qatar Olympic Committee. They will finalise the final number soon. We will have 3 or 4 teams from Qatar. For this Asian Games, we are looking for medals. God Willing, we will do well and win medals. Hopefully in athletics. We have extended our girls the right amount of preparation in terms of facilities and training camps. We are hopeful we will get medals. The coaches have prepared them really well.
Last year Qatar topped the medals chart at the GCC Women’s Games. How do you look back on that?
It was the fifth edition of the GCC Women’s Games and it was the first time Qatar won the first spot. We had hoped our athletes would do well on home soil but we had worked very hard. In sports you cannot guarantee success even if you work hard but it was a pleasant surprise to do so well. Our great performance showed that Qatar has done the right thing by investing so heavily in women’s sports.
How was the visit of the Bayern Munich women’s team in January?
Actually last year we saw a number of exchange programmes involving the Qatar national sports teams. Before that we had the British military team in Doha. Then Bayern Munich also camped in Doha for their winter break. That week was full of fun activities.
How do you view the performance of your girls considering these are top teams visiting Doha?
Our girls are young. Mostly they are U-14 but to play against the Bayern Munich women’s team was a life-time opportunity to mix with the top players. They were very happy and excited. Bayern Munich were here with their top side. We were happy to see our girls play with them. Maybe two or three are above U-14 but the rest of our team members are U-14.
By hosting such teams, do you think you are helping Qatar girls get the necessary exposure?
Absolutely. Bayern Munich’s men’s team has been coming to Doha for the last eight seasons for their winter camps. Clearly Doha is the best venue for them during their winter time. We just offered a friendly match and they (the Bayern Munich women’s team) were happy to make Doha their winter camp destination. Despite the huge difference between the ages of their players and ours, the game was good to watch.
Could you tell us something about your regular season activities?
We start in September every year. We start our season aiming to go to the young kids to improve our grass-roots activities. We seek to create good players from a young age. Quality is more important than quantity. Previously we would focus on team sports. Now we focus on individual sports also.
Is it difficult to convince parents to send their girls to take up sports?
No, this issue has been easily solved. Now if you come to our matches and competitions, you will see entire families cheering their kids. We have ways to reach out to the kids. We follow the Qatar Schools Olympic Programme as we send our coaches to semi-finals and finals of these events to scout for kids who are good at sports. We also have sports festival activities and we invite schools to feature in those. Then our coaches get to work and spot talented kids. We have coaches from overseas assisting us. We also have plans to help kids who need help for their academic careers. We don’t want kids to have their education affected in any way. We have all bases covered.
Do you have long-term plans for your athletes?
Yes, we have short-term goals and long-term plans. We prepare our athletes for regional events, the Asian Games, the Youth Olympic Games and then the Olympic Games. We have the Youth Olympic Games in October. We are hoping to get our shooting and track and field athletes to the 2018 Youth Olympic Games. We will know about it soon. The most important goal for any athlete is to reach the Olympics and do well at the Games. We have competed at the Olympic Games and we want to continue in this way. That’s a realistic goal.
