The Qatar Olympic Committee (QOC) has introduced a new wave of talented athletes that are achieving success for Qatar on the international stage, demonstrating the continued strength and depth of sports development in Qatar. Athletes representing Team Qatar in gymnastics, beach volleyball, and at the recent GCC Women’s Games were amongst those celebrated at the QOC’s April media briefing. 
Commenting on Team Qatar’s talented athletes, Secretary General of the QOC, Dr Thani Abdulrahman al-Kuwari said: “The QOC is committed to working closely with each of our National Sport Federations to provide the highest level of support for all our athletes and ensure that they have everything they need to reach their full potential. We are very pleased to witness the number of talented athletes that continue to emerge across wide variety of sports and represent Team Qatar at the highest possible level, particularly in women’s sport and para-sport. 
“This demonstrates the progress that we continue to make on the sporting field and suggests a bright future for sporting excellence in Qatar. We are very proud of all our athletes and hope that their success will capture the attention of young people around the country and inspire them to take up sport at any level.”
Team Qatar’s female athletes excelled at the recent GCC Women’s Games hosted in Doha when they topped the medals table with a total of 60 medals – 21 gold, 20 silver and 19 bronze, ahead of Bahrain in second place with 40 medals and UAE in third place with 32 medals. 
Over 350 athletes in total from across the GCC participated in 10 sports with 88 athletes representing Team Qatar. The performance of Qatar’s athletes is a huge improvement from the last edition of the Games in 2014 when Qatar finished fourth in the medal’s table with 29 medals, including seven gold, eight silver, and 14 bronze medals. 
Team Qatar’s gold medals came in a variety of sports including table tennis, chess, fencing, athletics, shooting, taekwondo, handball and basketball. Gold medal-winning handball captain, Sulaima al-Marri, who was voted Qatar’s best handball player in 2015 and 2017, said:
“Our success in the GCC Women’s Games inspired lots of new females in Qatar to want to play handball and to join the national team. During the tournament, we saw many players registering to join, which was amazing to see. It is also good to see the international media coverage of the event and show that there are females in Qatar playing sport and that we are playing at a high level. Handball is a great sport because it encourages girls to be social and enables them to be strong, powerful and healthy.” 
In March, Doha also hosted the FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Cup for the tenth consecutive year. 240 gymnasts from 33 countries participated, including Team Qatar’s Ahmed al-Dayani, Ahmed Nabil and Jenna Elkeky , who had the opportunity to compete against Olympic and World Champions and Doha’s Aspire Dome. 
For 17-year-old Nabil, who is a current student at the Aspire Academy, the competition provided valuable international experience on his journey to qualifying for next year’s 2018 World Championships in Doha and the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. The 2016 Arab Gymnastics Champion is currently preparing for next month’s Asian Championships in Thailand. 
He commented: “My experience at the Arab Junior Gymnastics Championships in Tunisia was great because I won my first gold medal on my favourite apparatus. We were also there with our senior team and I was able to learn a lot from them during our training camp ahead of the competition. I have lots of competitions and training camps coming up to gain more experience and work towards my dream of competing in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.”
Doha will be hosting further major international events in May when the Diamond League will be returning to Qatar Sports Club and the AVC Aspire Beach Tour will be hosted at the Aspire Park. Doha first staged a major athletics event in 1997 with the Doha Grand Prix, which was elevated to the Super Grand Prix in 2005.  Qatar will have a large team of athletes competing across a variety of disciplines, headed by Olympic silver medallist Mutaz Barshim, Asian 100m record holder Femi Ogunode and newcomer Abderrahman Samba, who recently ran a world-lead time in the 400m hurdles. 
The AVC Beach Tour will feature the best beach volleyball teams from 24 countries across Asia. This year’s AVC Beach Tour in Doha is the first Master tournament – allowing the teams to gain more points versus the previously held Open tours. Team Qatar last year qualified for the Olympic beach volleyball competition for the first time ever at Rio 2016, and continue to compete strongly on the world-stage.