By Sports Reporter/Doha

The Local Organizing Committee (LOC) officials joined the staff, Qatar Boxing team and members of the local media, to mark the 60-day countdown ahead of the 2015 AIBA World Boxing Championships.
Qatar Boxing Federation (QBF) president Yousuf Ali al-Kazim joined members of his organizing committee at Ali Bin Hamad Al Attiyah Arena to mark the second official countdown ceremony ahead of the October 5-18 event.
“This is an important milestone in our journey towards hosting the 2015 AIBA World Boxing Championships. Last month we marked the 90-day countdown and now we have reached the 60-day mark,” al-Kazim said.
“Basically we have a total of 60 days left to the main event. We are moving ahead with full force as we build an awareness momentum among boxing fans in the country and the region,” the QBF President said.
Last month the 90-day countdown was marked in the presence of the AIBA officials who visited Doha for their second inspection trip in July.
Al-Kazim welcomed AIBA president Dr Wu Ching-Kuo Wu, AIBA executive director Karim Bouzidi, AIBA senior competition manager Kristin Brynildsen, and scores of other AIBA Executive Committee members in Doha last month.
“This 60-day countdown will now be followed by a 30-day countdown. We will wind up with a special 10-day countdown to keep the interest in our event going ahead with full force,” al-Kazim said.
“Like I said the last time when we met, when we approach the 30-day phase, we will target all the residents in Qatar - whether Qataris or residents from different communities - and take our message forward to the sports fans in the country. In the next 30 days, we hope to make sure the message has been well received in the country,” al-Kazim said.
The QBF president said the 10-day countdown would be key to the entire promotional campaign which will end just days before the event starts in October.
“We know that the 10-countdown will be the most important phase in our promotional campaign. This is a huge opportunity for this sport to reach out to new audiences in this country and region,” al-Kazim said.
“During the next few weeks, we will be approaching embassies in Doha. That will complete our target audiences for the campaign,” al-Kazim said.
“When the championship time comes around, we will be ready with our hotels accommodation for athletes and officials coming to Qatar. The transport aspect also would have reached full readiness,” he said when asked about LOC’s preparation plans in August and September.
More than 260 boxers representing some 70 countries will feature at the October 5-18 event set to take place at the state-of-the-art Ali Bin Hamad Al Attiyah Arena. The event will be beamed to more than 60 countries around the world by live TV and social media feeds.