Doha, February 06 (QNA) - The National Sports Day Committee announced that the National Sports Day activities will be held this year under the slogan "Sports is Life" to express the importance of dedicating a sports day to the State, and to mark the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the launch of the National Sports Day.

Adviser to HE Minister of Sports and Youth, and Chairman of the National Sports Day Committee (NSD) Abdulrahman Musallam Al Dosari said in a press conference held today at Lusail Sports Hall, that the Sports Day contributed greatly to raising awareness of the importance of sports in the lives of individuals and society, revealing the update of the application of the Qatar Sports for All Federation (QSFA) which includes many useful and modern technological features.

Al Dosari added, "undoubtedly the figures regarding the contribution of the Sports Day to raising awareness of the importance of practicing sports reveal a significant increase in the number of sports practitioners of different ages in public parks, gyms, walking and cycling paths, where the number of bicycle practitioners has increased through Increasing walking and cycling paths, which will reach 2,500 km, upon completion of the project".

At the press conference, Al Dosari noted that the infrastructure established by the state and the facilities of the World Cup made Qatar a huge sports field, pointing to the importance of sport and its ability to help prevent chronic diseases, enhance self-confidence, and rapprochement with others, because sport is participation, and it has an impact in all aspects, it reduces the cost of going to hospitals and makes practitioners happy, which confirmed by science, in addition to the fact that the Sports Day initiative was launched from Qatar, and it found a huge global resonance.

NSD Chairman, explained that all events this year are held in the open air, with the participation of 15 people from the vaccinators who completed the vaccination doses in group events, and five individuals who did not complete the vaccination doses, such as children at the age of twelve for individual games, provided that they show what confirms that they are free of Corona, with the necessity of everyones commitment to highlight the "EHTERAZ" application, with green status.

Al Dosari added that "organizers must adhere to the maximum limit of 15 people in a group. These limits are applicable for all sports, and it is only allowed to remove the mask if the sport requires high effort."

The head of the National Sports Day Committee revealed that Lusail Sports Hall will be allocated for women, in presence of a full crew of women to practice gymnastics, fitness and other games in complete privacy.

Regarding the sports events held by state institutions, the head of the State Sports Day Committee noted that all state institutions organize various sports events for their members and affiliates in accordance with Amiri Resolution No. 80 of 2011 allocating a sports day for the state, to encourage everyone to participate in sports activities with family members and colleagues, adding that: "the standards of the health protocol for organizing sporting events were sent in coordination with the Ministry of Public Health, and we left the organizers the freedom to choose the venues for the events, such as Aspire, Katara, Msheireb, Al Rayyan Gardens and Al Bidda, plus all walking and running tracks and sports stadiums."

Regarding the organization of activities for children in schools, Al Dosari explained that there has been coordination with the Ministry of Education and Higher Education, and sports activities have been launched for children in schools, the QSFA has ongoing programs in cooperation with the Ministry to take advantage of sports classes in schools, to provide programs and events for children to raise their culture of sports, a summer program is also organized to teach them new and diverse sports such as swimming, archery, horse riding and self-defense, with the aim of discovering and developing children's hobbies.

Regarding the calendar of the QSFA, which he chairs, Al Dosari, said that the calendar includes 575 sports events throughout the year, the largest launched by the federation since its inception, and the number of participants in all previous events exceeded about a quarter of a million participants.

NSD Chairman revealed a study conducted by the QSFA in cooperation with Qatar University, which indicated that awareness of the importance of practicing sports had risen to 86%. A 365-day activity program has been dedicated to teaching the correct ways to practice walking and choosing the appropriate sport for each age group under the supervision of a number of specialized trainers.

Al Dosari added, "We have been keen in the calendar to organize many community events, such as the International Day of Obesity, Diabetes and Mental Health, in order to raise awareness among community members of the importance of these global events, with special events for women such as padel, football, archery, table tennis, as these events witnessed a large turnout from women, the Federation also made an agreement with a number of gyms and the concerned authorities to offer reduced subscriptions for women to encourage them to exercise."

Regarding the update of the "Sports for All Federation" application, Al Dosari explained, "When updating the application, we were keen to keep pace with the times and meet the aspirations of community members with a new and advanced set of modifications, including the walking competition that will accompany the National Sports Day for 3 days from 8-10 am, the first three winners who score 15,000 steps over those days will receive 10, 7 and 5 thousand Qatari riyals, the application will also allow the possibility of creating special groups for the Sports Day that will provide users to participate in group activities with different sports activities, and provide common challenges by sending a link to the competition, it will also facilitate the follow-up of the health status, in terms of the appropriate number of steps, and health information, and sends notifications to the user to encourage him to non-stop exercise.

Among the most important updates launched by the QSFA is the possibility of booking sports facilities through maps, in addition to purchasing tickets from one place, depending on the "barcode" of each ticket.

The State of Qatar celebrated the National Sports Day for the first time in Feb. 2012, after the issuance of Amiri Decision No. 80 of 2011 which stipulated that the second Tuesday of February of every year will be a National Sports Day and a paid holiday.

All state institutions participate in this sporting event and organize activities to raise awareness of the importance of sports and its role in the lives of people and societies.

The State of Qatar was the first to organize a national sports day at the level of the region and the world. Some countries followed the steps of Qatar and started organizing a sports day, given its importance to the individual and the society.

The Sports Day is receiving great attention, as this special event has become popular with all who live in Qatar from all age groups, who are keen to spend a distinguished sports day embraced by all regions of the country. (QNA)