SOP Executive Director Mohamed Essa Mohamed al-Fadhala (C) and his colleagues at Thursday’s co-ordination meeting.

By Sports Reporter
Doha

The Organizing Committee of the Olympic Day School held a co-ordination meeting at the headquarters of the Olympic Committee to reveal the details of the ninth edition of the program, which will be held this year under the slogan – “Sport and Media”.
Mohamed Essa Mohamed al-Fadhala, Executive Director of the Schools Olympic Program said, “We take pride in the fact that our Schools Olympic Program has been so successful, especially in the recent years, that it has set the benchmark for other countries to follow.
“We have been receiving queries and requests from the other nations of the Arabian Gulf in this regard. In fact, UAE, Oman and Saudi Arabia have already started implementing the SOP in line with our knowledge and technical knowhow.” He added: “Thanks to the support and insight shown by our officials that the SOP program has been hugely popular in Qatar. Since its inception, the number of participants have increased. My heart swells with pride in stating that fact that the SOP is successfully running in 279 boys and 263 girls schools across Qatar.”
Confirming the existence of a comprehensive strategy in order to register schools, al-Fadhala said, “We have been using the ‘Information Program’ that is part of a global framework in registering schools students and teachers for SOP. The program operates, both, on a collective and individual basis. Currently, there are 13 different categories of games for students to choose from.”
Speaking about innovative steps taken for the upcoming 9th Edition of Schools Olympic Program, he said: “Many new ideas and programs will be added to the SOP in the new season, which kicks off in October this year and concludes in March 2016.
“As part of the Ambassadors Program, the Organizing Committee will choose prominent athletes from across different Olympic Sports and their experiences and ideas will be effectively utilised in inculcating the Olympic Spirit amongst the students.”
Shedding light on the Organizing Committee’s “Road to Rio” he said that it aims to provide a spirit of competition among the participants through quizzes designed around Olympic Sports. The winner will get a chance to travel to Brazil for Rio Olympics, next year. In addition, the winner will get an opportunity to work with the media delegation, staying in line with the slogan “Sport and Media”.
During the meeting, al-Fadhala even urged the World Food Program executive director, Ertharin Cousin, and various media organisations to contribute towards providing students the opportunity to closely work with media persons and reporters in order to gain useful knowledge so as to help them choose media as a vocation in future. He praised Qatar Olympic Academy, which has been involved in such an exercise by way of conducting workshops and seminars designed around “Sport and Media”.