Qatar Olympic Committee secretary general Dr Thani Abdulrahman al-Kuwari will head the two-day summit.

By Sports Reporter/Doha


The Qatar Olympic Committee (QOC) is set to host the 85th edition of the GCC Olympic Committees’ Executive Directors Summit in Doha today.
The summit, headed by QOC secretary general Dr Thani Abdulrahman al-Kuwari, will see representatives of Bahrain, Kuwait, the UAE, Oman and Saudi Arabia in attendance.
The two-day summit will include a meeting of the various local organising committees of GCC tournaments tomorrow, with both meetings being hosted in the iconic Sheraton hotel on the Doha Corniche.
Doha hosted the 84th edition of the summit, which saw a regional commitment to increase youth participation in sports, in March 2015. Proposals of the previous edition include a GCC-wide Sport Day, a GCC Youth Games and implementing daily physical education classes in all GCC schools.
The proposal of a regional sports day was put forward by the QOC after the massive success of Qatar’s annual National Sport Day (NSD) which celebrated its fourth edition earlier this year. The proposal was unanimously backed by all attendees, and is due to be held on the second Saturday of February each year.
Qatar’s NSD is a public holiday aimed at embedding sporting values into Qatar culture and inspiring local people to participate in sports. Held on the second Tuesday of every February, public and private entities organise a range of sporting activities for every age and fitness level. Qatar is one of the few countries in the world with a public holiday exclusively dedicated to sports and healthy living.
The 85th Summit will aim to build on the momentum established earlier this year as well as share knowledge and experience for upcoming GCC sporting tournaments. Currently, the GCC countries have organised several region-wide tournaments including the 2nd GCC Beach Games, which were hosted by Doha April 2-9, 2015, the 4th GCC Women’s Games, which were held in Oman March 8-18, 2015, the GCC Para-Athletics Championships in Doha which were held in September as well as the 2nd GCC Games which took place in Dammam, Saudi Arabia October 17-28, 2015.