Major General Dahlan Al Hamad, president of the Qatar and Asian athletics federations and IAAF vice-president, congratulated the entire Al Jaish family on winning the prized Qatar Cup junior athletics title for the first time in the club’s history, praising the countless achievements and gains the club has made despite its short history compared with established, pioneering clubs. He said Al Jaish was born a giant, and that such an achievement was nothing new for it, considering the excellence and major leap forward in athletics at the club a natural outcome of dedicated work and the support and attention of Al Jaish’s board. Major General Dahlan Al Hamad also saluted the sincere efforts of the technical and administrative staff and Al Jaish’s promising athletes, wishing them further success in upcoming championships. Al Hamad also congratulated Al Sadd and Al Rayyan on finishing second and third respectively, wishing the other clubs greater effort in pursuit of improvement, and urged them to follow the lead of the top three — Al Jaish, Al Sadd and Al Rayyan — so they too can compete for the leading places in future. On the participation of girls’ school teams alongside the championship, Al Hamad said the presence of schools in our domestic championships is a commitment within our social responsibility towards all segments of our local community, and that the federation intends to develop such initiatives and partnerships further, for the benefit of students and to help spread sporting awareness and promote athletics among the student community. He closed by repeating his congratulations to Al Jaish, Al Sadd and Al Rayyan on taking the top three places, wishing the rest of the clubs better fortune in the season’s grand finale, the Amir Cup championship, which begins next Monday.
