The maiden edition of the QOC Beach Games concluded successfully at the Aspire Park yesterday with the winners being crowned in a glittering ceremony in the presence of Qatar Olympic Committee and various Federation officials.
As many as 500 men and women participated across four sporting disciplines — football, handball, volleyball and 3x3 basketball — for a total prize money of QR470,000 in what is a legacy event of the ANOC World Beach Games 2019.
Present at the prize distribution ceremony were Qatar Olympic Committee Secretary-General HE Jassim al-Buenain, Qatar Handball Association President Ahmad Mohamed al-Shaabi, Qatar Basketball Federation President Ahmed Abdulrahman al-Muftah, Qatar Volleyball Association President Ali Ghanim al-Kuwari, and other officials from the QOC and various federations.
Maldives Olympic Committee Secretary-General Ahmed Marzooq too caught some thrilling fast-paced men’s beach football and beach handball final action.
In the men’s beach handball, Al Edeid managed to overcome an Al Khafji fightback in the second period to win the winner’s cheque of QR40,000. Al Edeid had taken the first period 23-21, before Al Khafji fought back to take the second period 14-12. The decider saw Al Edeid settle the matters 10-8 for a 2-1 victory in the final.
The men’s beach football saw a reversal of fortunes for Doha who had raced to a 4-1 lead in the first period against Al Shahaniya. But the latter fought back over the next two periods keeping the Doha attack line in check and occasionally getting through their defences to force a 5-5 parity by the end of the third and final 12-minute period.
In the penalty shootout, Al Shahaniya got off the mark promptly and their goalkeeper kept the Doha at bay to take a crucial 1-0 lead. That miss turned out to be costly for Doha as Al Shahaniya players scored on all three attempts to win the affair 8-6, and along with that, the winner’s cheque of QR50,000.
The men’s beach volleyball final saw Al Adaam beat Al Nojoom 21-13, 21-18 for a prize money of QR40,000.
“This tournament is perfect. We saw so many young talents, and we can take care of them for the next big events. We have so many youngsters who can really play in the future. We had some good competition, we played really good, and delivered the championship. They are not professional players but showed a lot of promise for the future,” said Qatar international Cherif Younousse, who was part of Al Adaam.
On Friday, five finals decided the champions. 
In the women’s beach basketball 3X3, Qatar B defeated Doha 14-11 to emerge as the inaugural champions.
In the women’s beach handball, Al Shaqab were crowned champions after winning in shootouts against Yasminat of Tunisia.
Seashore were crowned the women’s beach football champions after defeating 22 Youth Initiative 2-1 while Team A7, who were denied a place in the final by Seashore, were too strong for Qatar team in their third-place match. The A7 ladies won 3-0 to emerge the bronze medallists.
In the other final played in the women’s category, Al Maha, parading some of the national team players, trounced Al Amal 2-0 to emerge champions of the women’s beach volleyball.
In the final of the men’s beach basketball 3X3, on the other hand, Al Ahlam withstood a late resurgence from Al Wakrah to narrowly win 20-19 to emerge as champions.
“I have been able to see how Qatar has been able to carry forward the legacy of the ANOC Beach Games. This is something a lot of countries can learn from. In the pandemic year, Qatar has been able to organise these sporting events for its people. It’s really good. I see a lot of families and friends, and enjoying the games. It is a good atmosphere; something great after almost one year,” Marzooq said.
“When I get back to the Maldives, I am going to be talking a lot about what I saw here. Qatar has done a great job to be honest,” he added.
“We are carrying forward the legacy of the 2019 ANOC Beach Games,” said Khalil al-Jaber, Director of Sports Affairs at the QOC. “I would really like to congratulate the teams, the Qatar Olympic Committee on creating such Games. We have used the facilities that we used at the ANOC World Beach Games. I would like to thank Aspire, they provided all the facilities to host these great games. We are happy with the participation; more than 500 people participated in the first edition. So we are now aiming for the next one to be bigger in terms of participation. We now, after this edition, have the experience, and we will study all the aspects, and then we will create a totally different event for the second edition.”
QOC’s Marketing and Communications department’s Abdul Hadi al-Sahli added: “This is the legacy of the ANOC Beach Games 2019. It’s nice to see women playing these events, which highlights the support for women’s sport in Qatar. The women’s beach volleyball competition saw players with an average age of 16-17, which is promising for our future. We will have these players coming through to our national teams as well. These games are a chance to find the talent, doesn’t matter the age or gender, who we can have in the beach games in the future. It’s nice to see a lot of spectators at Aspire, which shows the importance of these events by the Qatar Olympic Committee. QOC has organised a lot of community events, crossfit, padel, which shows that we are covering all areas and sports, just to send across the message that sport is for life.”