Organisers of the Qatar 2015 Men’s Handball World Championship would be mighty pleased with the success of the IHF Super Globe tournament which concluded at the new Qatar Handball Association Complex in Duhail last Friday.
Although the Super Globe event is an annual feature as far as international sports in Qatar is concerned, this year’s tournament had much more at stake as it was treated as a rehearsal for the facilities put up for the World Championship in January.
The newly-built state-of-the-art stadium complex, which even houses a hotel, left every player and official impressed. But more importantly, the fact that the Super Globe event went off without a glitch must have enthused the World Championship organising committee which went to extraordinary lengths to make the test event a success.
The IHF Super Globe was contested between the champion clubs from different confederations around the world. In total, eight club teams from five continents competed, with Barcelona beating Qatar’s Al Sadd in the final.
Leon Kalin, chairman of IHF Commission of Organising and Competition, was all praise for the facilities. “With regard to this venue, I have been involved with the project right from the planning and development to ensure that it delivers specific handball solutions,” he said.
“The Qatar Handball Association Complex is not just a competition venue but the first handball education centre in the world. The Qatar 2015 Organising Committee has chosen the right people and has truly delivered on its promises. From this edition of the Super Globe it is evident that the Qatar teams have really done their homework and I have been expecting all the pleasant surprises we have seen in the tournament.”
To ensure the event went off smoothly, the Qatar 2015 organising committee encouraged people to volunteer for the Super Globe. They played a variety of roles, from welcoming visitors to helping to manage the event.
Volunteers are an important feature of global sports events and organisers of the World Championship are looking for more participation from members of Qatar’s expatriate community to help across a range of areas, including accommodation, accreditation, airport services, doping control, media and broadcasting, protocol etc.
Dr Thani Abdulrahman al-Kuwari, director general, Qatar 2015 said: “Volunteers play a key role in the success of any major sporting event, and we have developed a sophisticated process to select, train and support our volunteers. We will expand our volunteer efforts to ensure the success of the Qatar 2015 24th Men’s Handball World Championship.”
Over the next few months, the organising committee is looking to recruit a team of 1,500 volunteers for the January event. It would be another opportunity for Qatar residents to show they also have a “sporting” side.
