29. Februar 2008  
Doha / Qatar  
Artistic Gymnastics

PREVIEW: The first World Cup of the Olympic Year 2008

Doha is hosting a world cup for the very first time

World Cup Opening in Qatar
This year's first artistic gymnastics WORLD CUP (Category 'A') will be held at the "Aspire Dome"  of Doha (Qatar) from March 4 - 6, 2008, being organized by "Qatar Gymnastic Federation" under the aegis of the FIG and Qatar Olympic Committee.
The hosts count on top favorites from more than 40 countries, who will use this opportunity as a competition start into the Olympic season...

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Mr. A-Rahman Al-Shathri,
President of QGF

During a press conference, which was attended by various local and international media representatives, Mr. A-Rahman Al-Shathri, president of the Qatar Gymnastic Federation, announced that this event will host the top ranking gymnasts from more than 40 countries.

Jordan Iovtchev of Bulgaria, Robert Seligman of Croatia, Yann Cucherat of France, Dimosthenis Tampakos of Greece, Igor Cassina of Italy, Hiroyuki Tomita of Japan, Yuri Van Gelder of Netherlands, Wajdi Bouallegue of Tunisia and on the women's side Oksana Chusovitina of Germany are there among others...
Shahtri said that three gymnasts – Nasser Al Mahmoud, Mahmoud Al Sa’adi and Al Jazi Al Habshi will represent Qatar during the three-day event, one of six such events held around the globe every year.
“This will be our biggest assignment since the 2006 Asian Games gymnastics event held in Doha ,” Shahtri said. “In fact this is a bigger event since only six World Cup series events are held in the world every year,” he said.

The QGF chief said he expects young Qatari gymnasts to gain experience from their participation in the three-day event. “The world’s best gymnasts will be seen in action. These three young kids can gain a lot. They have performed well in recent times, with Nasser winning three medals at  2007 Asian Junior Championships. Such events help youngsters not to get overawed of famous names in gymnastics,” Shahtri said.

The QGF president said the Doha event will be seen by a television audience of nearly 70 million.


Doha meet assumes importance in view of it being first of the series for 2008 and also will help the participants to judge their performance before the 2008 Beijing Olympics in August.
* Source: DQF, press release

< GYMmedia will offer a proposal for a special GYMmedia Event Service to the Qatar hosts...