By Sports Reporter/Doha

Since its inception, the event has been named ‘Leaders in Performance’ and been held at the Chelsea Football Stadium in London. This year, a refreshed image sees the conference, which was held in the Emirates Stadium in London for the first time, renamed as ‘the Sport Performance Summit’. The summit concluded on Thursday with more than 600 delegates from 27 countries and 25 sporting backgrounds attending the global gathering for sport performance experts.

The Aspetar sessions covered leadership of major professional and amateur sporting associations and other leaders in the fields of sports medicine, the sports sciences, fitness, high profile athletes, and experts from other areas of the sports industry.

Commenting on this occasion, Aspetar director general Dr Khalifa al-Kuwari said, “Our participation in this international summit for the 4th consecutive year confirms our continuous dedication to share our expertise and knowledge in the field of sports medicine and sports science with international organisations that will allow us to confirm our mission, which is to assist athletes to achieve their full potential.”

During the Sport Science Panel Discussion entitled ‘How To Maintain Success Once You Have It’, which was moderated by Aspetar’s head of Athlete Health and Performance Research Mathew Wilson, Aspetar’s assistant director general for International Medical Affairs and Programmes & Centres of Excellence Dr Hakim Chalabi explored the topics of leadership, club philosophy, and sustaining athlete longevity through innovative sport science and medicine strategies, while also ensuring his audience understood the concept of risk and building sustainability into an effective setting.

The morning session on health performance, which was attended by more than 200 delegates, was a discussion based on Aspetar’s ‘The Demise of the Fittest: Are we Destroying our Most Talented Athletes?’ presented by head of Aspetar’s Injury and Illness Prevention Programme (ASPREV) Professor Roald Bahr.

Professor Bahr revealed the latest research and insights into relationships between sports talent and injury risk, and highlighted the responsibility for nurturing talent into world-class athletes.

In conjunction with the Sports Performance Summit, Aspetar also sponsored a special symposium that addressed ‘Leadership: Style & Culture’, which was presented by Arsene Wenger, manager of the London-based English Premier League club Arsenal.

The Annual Aspetar Dinner was held the evening before the Congress and was aimed at promoting Qatar, the Aspire Zone Foundation and Aspetar, its services, Centers of Excellence and Programmes.