Our national athletics team’s training camp in Turkey received a special visit yesterday from Turkish interior minister Suleyman Soylu, who greeted all members of the delegation and welcomed them to their second home, reflecting the strong ties between the two countries at every level.
The Turkish minister checked on the Qatari delegation and the availability of every facility for our champions during the camp, expressing during the visit his great happiness at their presence and their choice of Turkey to hold the training camp.
The delegation presented Minister Soylu with a Qatar team shirt, and thanked him for his visit and his great attention to the Qatari team’s delegation, and were keen to take souvenir photos with him.
It is worth noting this is Qatar’s team’s first camp since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, taking place amid excellent conditions in Turkey, with all facilities available for players to train and prepare for coming events, ahead of the resumption of athletics activity, which had been suspended for a long period due to the spread of the virus around the world.
Players were split into two groups training in the cities of Antalya and Erzurum, with sprinters and middle- and long-distance runners training in Antalya and Izmir, while short-distance runners, sprinters and hurdlers trained in Erzurum.
The camp aims to raise the players’ technical level following the coronavirus pandemic, after most players had stayed in Doha throughout the summer under home quarantine and precautionary measures.
The middle- and long-distance players at the camp include Mubarak Rabee, Abubaker Haydar, Abdulrahman Said, Musaab Adam, Yasser Salem and Ammar Obaid.
The short-distance, sprint and hurdles players are Basem Hemeida, Mohammed Adam, Mohammed Nasser, Tosin Ogunode and Ashraf Hussein, along with throws athlete Muath Mohammed Ibrahim.
The players will take part in some domestic championships in Turkey, and the national teams committee and the athletics federation hope that competitions and championships will return and the international calendar resumes once more, bringing back the atmosphere of competitions and championships.
