02.12.2008
Women and Sport
Sport has always celebrated inclusion and participation among cultures, nations and genders.
The importance and social significance of women participating in sport in the Gulf region, especially in Qatar, cannot be overstated. Sport is providing new paths of excellence, pride and self expression for young women all across the region, and Qatar is at the forefront of this change.
The Qatar Women Sports Committee (QWSC) was founded in 2001 by Heir Apparent His Highness Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani. Its aim is to promote women's sport in Qatar as well as encouraging sporting excellence among women.
As a result, at the 2006 Asia Games, there were 43 women in the Qatari national team. They competed in sports ranging from archery, chess, horse riding, fencing, gymnastics, golf, judo, sailing, shooting, swimming and taekwondo.
Anisa and Samsam Jama, together with their teammate Amal Mhamud won bronze in the Women's 10m Running Target Shooting Team; and Zhu Chen won bronze medal in the Women's Rapid Chess.
To emphasise its commitment to women's sport, the first Bid Ambassador to be appointed by the Doha 2016 Committee was the archer and rally driver Nada Zeidan.
Zeidan was the first Qatari, the first Arab, and the first Muslim female to compete at an international level in archery at the 14th Asian Games, held in Busan, South Korea in 2002. She went on to represent Qatar again at the 15th Asian Games in Doha in 2006.
Zeidan is equally accomplished behind the wheel of her rally car which she has regularly driven to victory on the Middle East rally circuit. During the 2004-5 Middle East Rally Tour she won three Ladies Cups in Dubai, Syria and Lebanon.
