HE Major General Dahlan Jumaan Al Hamad, president of both the Qatari and Asian federations and vice-president of the IAAF, praised the achievements of Qatar’s athletics champions in the continental challenge in China, hailing the remarkable brilliance of our men, and stressing that our champions’ superiority and their lead in the men’s category so far — ahead of sporting powerhouses and traditionally strong nations by a wide margin — did not come from nowhere, but is the fruit of the support and backing of Qatari sports officials and the dedication and devotion of everyone at the mother of Asian sport, represented by the board members and the technical and administrative staff of the national teams, and their major role in preparing and readying the champions and urging them to exert every effort to honour their country, and we must also not forget the role of our clubs. He also once again congratulated Qatar’s loyal champions on these achievements, which are certainly a new addition to our record of continental achievements, clearly reflecting the great and rapid development we have achieved over the past period, and evidence of the strength of our talent pool and the soundness of our approach and planning, especially as the coming stage requires redoubled effort, first to preserve these achievements and confirm the standing of the mother of Asian sport on the continental and international stage, thanks to the resolve and determination of our men who honoured us at the Asian sporting gathering, noting that the ambitions of the “mother of sport” and its moving train know no limits, only pausing to refuel before setting off again towards the shores of sporting excellence and creativity.
Asia developing and in motion
On the new term of the board of directors, which he himself chairs, HE predicted better activity in the service of the yellow continent, especially as all the conditions — human, economic and intellectual — are in place for Asia to take its leading sporting place among nations, with Africa as an example, which despite being less developmentally fortunate than us, shows that we need will, hard work, diligence and unity to translate our programmes and plans into useful achievements on the ground for the benefit of present and future generations.
An incentive to achieve the best
Major General Dahlan Al Hamad considered the series of Qatari achievements over the past period — whether sporting, organisational or administrative — to be the result of tremendous effort, dedication and unity among everyone at Qatar’s mother of sport, thanks to the support of our wise leadership in winning these bets, starting with securing the right to host the 2019 World Athletics Championships and other gains that have drawn the world’s attention to the State of Qatar, translating our great ambitions and pushing our journey forward, with success from Almighty God, and said: “Undoubtedly these achievements are proof of the health and development of the sport in our dear country, and the best incentive and motivation to give our best in the coming international commitments, most importantly the World Championships in China and the Rio 2016 Olympics, the dream of all champions. We wish and hope for success for our champions in today’s and tomorrow’s finale competitions — they are worthy of the trust and competence to honour their country, repay their debt to the homeland and its leader, and delight our fans by winning more of the precious metal, and to raise our flag until Qatar’s national team soars again in the skies of China.”
