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It’s that time of the year again. And it promises to be even bigger, and better, this time. The second edition of Doha GOALS, a one of its kind platform that focuses on sport as a driver of social and economic change, will be held at the Aspire Dome from December 9 to 11. |
If the inaugural 2012 edition of the event focused mostly on ideas and initiatives for the future challenges, the 2013 chapter aims to take those ideas further, while concentrating on the action taken in developing those initiatives.
There will also be additions to the usual program. In a bid to make Doha GOALS a forum for world leaders to advance social initiatives, the 2013 edition will open with a sports ministers’ summit on the theme, ‘Integrity in Sport’.
The focus of the summit will be to promote fairness and equality in various sporting disciplines. Sports ministers from more than 20 countries—including from South Africa, Brazil, Mexico and Italy—are scheduled to attend the summit, which will be chaired by HE Salah bin Ghanem bin Nasser al-Ali, Minister of Youth & Sports in Qatar.
“The diverse group of people—as speakers, partners, participants, students, and community members—creates a unique forum for this initiative. By bringing together this cross-section of interested parties, from heads of government through to federations and NGOs, we have the opportunity to have real dialogue and bring about real change,” said HE Sheikh Faisal bin Mubarak al-Thani, Executive Director of Doha GOALS.
Among some of the notable speakers who have confirmed to be a part of this year’s forum are tennis legend Boris Becker, Indian shooting ace Abhinav Bindra, former Trinidad and Tobago sprinter Ato Boldon, Romanian gymnastics legend and triple Olympic champion Nadia Comaneci, Kenyan long distance runner Wilson Kipketer, and Swedish football legend Henrik Larsson, to name a few.
“Rather than acting as a conference—where ideas are traded but rarely enacted —this forum is an initiative with the express intent of empowering stakeholders to create a roadmap for social improvement through sport, and launch cross-border initiatives,” informed Richard Attias, Executive Producer of Doha GOALS.
Three initiatives were chosen from the 456 ideas put forward by participants at last year’s forum, Attias said, while adding that the outcome of the feasibility studies on those initiatives would be launched on Dec 10.
Further, the commitments from the sports ministers’ summit would be added to the outcomes from the Doha GOALS forum’s taskforces to create a combined final agenda to be acted upon, he said.
The notable topics to be discussed during the three-day forum include, among others: 1) Corruption in Sport; 2) Cultural differences in Sport; 3) Role of Private Sector in Sport; 4) Digital Marketing in Building Fan Base; 5) Rehabilitation through Sport; 6) Women in Sport; 7) Sport in Education.
Those willing to attend the forum can register before Dec 8, the details of which are available on dohagoals.com.
Below: (From left) Tennis legend Boris Becker, long distance runner Wilson Kipketer, former Swede footballer Henrik Larsson and Romanian gymnastic icon Nadia Comaneci would be among the speakers in the second edition of Doha GOALS sports forum.
