H.E. Dahlan Alhamad, the President of Qatar Athletics Federation, gifted the splendid athletics achievements seized by the Qatari athletes during the 15th Asian Games-Doha 2006 to the supreme supporters of sports in the State of Qatar, i.e., His Highness the Emir Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani and His Highness the Heir Apparent Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani, as well as the people of Qatar who supported and encouraged Qatar’s athletes in the athletics events. H.E. Alhamad emphasized that the gold achievements recorded by the Qatari champions Daham Najm Bashir (1500m), Mubarek Hassan Shami(Marathon) and James Qualya (5000m), as well as all the other medals have ensured to Qatar an advanced level in the ranking order of the 15th Asian Games. Yet, H.E. Alhamad referred that “Qatar’s ambitions in athletics were greater before the launch of the 15th Asian Games but some hard circumstances like athletes’ injuries as in the case of Saif Saeed Shahen have prevented Qatar from fulfilling these ambitions.” He added that “the board of directors will study and analyze the achieved results as well as the technical and administrative reports in order to determine the root-problems which were encountered by Qatar athletics during the Doha 2006 Asian Games.

Moreover, H.E. admitted that some of the athletes did not perform well during the competitions and he asked all to be fully responsible for their performance’ excellence since the government has paved the way to athletes and always support them with all the support methods to get the best performances and achievements in the international events.

Finally, H.E. Alhamad considered achieving 8 medals in the Doha 2006 as not the end of Qatar’s ambitions because Qatari athletics’ hopes are limitless. “However, some circumstances such as injuries have affected the Qatari medals outcome and we look forward to achieve better results in the near future”, he added.