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Stage set for pentathlon challenge at Al Shaqab Arena

DOHA: Modern Pentathlon, one of the oldest Olympic sports in history, is targeting to attract the attention of young kids at Al Shaqab Arena where the world’s best athletes will lock horns in five disciplines over the course of next two days.

A total of 36 athletes will compete in swimming, fencing, riding, running and shooting competitions at the 2015 Champion of Champions event starting at Al Shaqab Arena on Friday.

Only UIPM ranked athletes from around the globe feature at the two-day event seeking to be crowned the best male and female Modern Pentathletes in the world.

According to Mohammed Al Naimi, the Tournament Director, the event is expected to draw the attention of youngsters aiming to make mark in sports.

“There’s no better way to attract the youth to sports than to get them watching this amazing sport. There are five disciplines and we are working on helping the youngsters watch the top athletes in action,” Al Mannai said.

“The world’s best athletes are here and watching them compete against each other will hopefully get the kids going,” he added.

Omar Al Mannai, Marketing Director of the event, said: “Developing sports is part of Qatar’s National 2030 Vision. Improving the lives of young and old through sports is what we are looking at.”

He added: “We have joined hands with International Pentathlon Federation (UIPM) and Qatar Olympic Committee (QOC) to put together this event. This will be the first edition of three and we will get better in the coming editions.”

Earlier this year, QOC and Qatar Modern Pentathlon Federation (QMPF) signed an agreement with the International Federation of Modern Pentathlon (UIPM) to host the 2015, 2016 and 2017 editions of the Champion of Champions events in Doha.

First hosted by Doha in 2013, Qatar and QMPF are showing their commitment to the development of Modern Pentathlon by signing an agreement to host the next three editions, Al Mannai said.

“We staged an event two years ago and we realised that this was a popular event with the fans. Now we want to bring our schoolchildren to the event and show them how the athletes compete,” Al Mannai said.

“That’s why we have maintained free entry for the fans so that maximum number of children could come in,” Al Mannai said.

“We are being assisted by national federations linked to swimming, running, shooting, fencing and riding. It’s a joint operation among all these federations working under QOC,” he added.

“We evaluate our goals after each event. Just two weeks ago we had the Longines Global Champions Tour and now we are hosting this hugely popular event.

“We are confident that with each edition of the Champion of Champions, we will reach our targets,” Al Mannai said Al Shaqab Arena.

Qatar can take pentathlon forward, says Shiny Fang

Modern pentathlon can easily be made popular among young sports fans in Qatar, UIPM Secretary-General Shiny Fang (pictured) said on Thursday.

Al Shaqab Arena will host the Champion of Champions edition today and tomorrow when the world’s 36 top-ranked athletes compete in men’s and women’s competitions.

“We believe so. That’s why we are here,” Fang said when asked if the message of athletes competing in five disciplines could be delivered to young Qatari sports fans.

“It takes time. This is a sport that came back. Qatar has a history. They have a culture in this sport,” Fang added. “They are promoting the sport. So the first priority is that everything is proper for the athletes and hope they can promote the sport through the media.

“Organisers will bring students and that’s direct help to boost the sport. Some of them will say ‘that’s cool’. We could also get the athletes to talk to students and in front of the media,” she said.

Fang said young sports fans are likely to get involved thanks to the involvement of TV coverage.
“TV is very important because it can give the more complete image of the sport. They can combine different events on one screen. Social media can also be used. As far TV is concerned, that’s something classic. You can never forget,” Fang said.

“When you start with kids then it is easy to keep them interested because this is a sport where you have to be good at something. For us, when we are focusing on events now.”