The players and officials of Ibn Taymiyyah Independent Secondary School celebrate with the trophy as officials applaud them after the final at Aspire Dome, yesterday.
Ibn Taymiyyah Independent Secondary School grabbed top honours as the 12th edition of the School Olympic Program (SOP) concluded with thrilling finals at Aspire Dome yesterday.
Top officials including Jassem Al Buainain, Secretary-General of the Qatar Olympic Committee (QOC), Dr Ibrahim Bin Saleh Al Nuaimi, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Education, and Qatar national football team’s stars Akram Afif, Salem Al Hajri and Tariq Sulaiman were among the high number of spectators, who watched five thrilling finals among the schoolboys.
The title-deciding matches played yesterday included finals of football, basketball, volleyball, gymnastics and tennis tournaments.
Ibn Taymiyyah secured the coveted football title after edging out Palestine School 1-0 following an interesting battle.
Expressing his delight on the success of latest edition, Al Buainain praised the level of competition and motivation among young competitors during the finals.
“It was great to see these youngsters competing with such a passion. All the hard work by School Olympic Program has started paying dividend,” Al Buainain said on the sidelines of the finals.
“The School Olympic Program is part of Qatar National Vision 2030 and I am very happy that it is progressing well. This edition turned out to be a huge success,” he added.
The QOC Secretary-General also thanked Ministry of Education and Higher Education, and Aspire for their cooperation.
“We are delighted to partner with the Ministry of Education and Higher Education. We also thank Aspire for hosting the finals of the School Olympic Program. We are always keen to distinguish the School Olympic Program, which started in 2007 as one of the projects that is the legacy of the Asian Games 2006. The program is supported by the leadership of the Qatar Olympic Committee,” said the top QOC official.
“School sports are among the priorities of the Qatar Olympic Committee. We strive to achieve the program’s strategic objectives, achieve future sports excellence and spread sports in various fields in Qatar,” he added.
Meanwhile, Abdulrahman Al Muftah, Executive Director of Qatar Sports Federation (QSF), said the organisers achieved their target with another successful edition of SOP.
“We are pleased with what has been achieved not only on the final day, but in the program in general. It is a great success which will continue to give positive results in the future,” said Al Muftah.
“This success brings us more responsibility to deliver the best in the next stage and the next edition will be the best,” he concluded.
Secretary-General of QSF, Ali Al Hitmi praised young athletes and thanked all the top officials who made the finals a resounding success.
“We are pleased with this special day and with the great attendance of all officials and the various schools in the five finals,” said Al Hitmi.
“It was also a special day in the presence of the stars of our team and the participation of students in this celebration especially as they represent role models for these young players and such attendance has a good and distinctive reaction of students,” he added.
