Sixth Schools Olympic Program in Qatar kicks off
2012-10-11
In a ceremonial scene, the competitions of the sixth Schools Olympic Program (SOP) 2012-2013 under the theme (Sport and investment) was kicked off at the Qatar Sports Club on 09 October, 2012.
The SOP opening ceremony was attended by HE Sheikh Saoud bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, the Secretary General of Qatar Olympic Committee (QOC), HE Mr. Rabea Al-Kaabi, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Education and Higher Education, Hamad Al-Abdan, Operation Manager of Enterprise Qatar, and Dr. Ali Al-Qarni, Director of Arab Education Office for GCC Countries.
The ceremony began with the recitation of the verses of Holy Quran by the student Ahmad Badea Mahmoud, then new logo of the SOP was officially launched where the student Haya Ayman gave a presentation about the new logo.
After the opening ceremony, some exhibition matches of Basketball, Football, Athletics, Athletics for People with Special Needs, Table Tennis and Table Tennis for People with Special Needs were held at Abdullah bin Suhaim indoor hall. The new logo takes its inspiration from the world-renowned symbol of the Olympics, with its five interlocking rings coloured blue, yellow, black, green, and red on a white field.
The new SOP logo reinforces the values of the Olympic movement, where the rings are a universal symbol of continuity and humanity.
Mr. Mohammad Eisa Al-Fadalah, Executive Director of the SOP addressed the gathering and stressed that SOP is an attempt to encourage school students to practice sport as an integral part of their daily life.
The SOP has celebrated five years of success with an increase of participation by 400% since its inception in 2007-2008. The program began with 7000 male and female students and has so far reached 20,000 students from 370 schools in nine sporting disciplines.The SOP is striving to achieve the ambitions of the Qatar National Vision 2030 and the National Development Strategy (NDS) to increase sports participation and promote an active healthy lifestyle in Qatar.
