Friday 19 / April / 2024
MUSCAT: The Board of Directors of Oman Olympic Committee (OOC) held its fifth meeting of the year under the chairmanship of Sheikh Saif bin Hilal Al Hosni, OOC Acting Chairman.
In his welcome speech Al Hosni on behalf of the OOC Board conveyed its greetings to His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said on the occasion of the Glorious 48th National Day anniversary and to the people of Oman for His Majesty’s patronage and generous support to sport and Oman athletes.
The Board praised former OOC chairman Sheikh Khalid bin Mohammad Al Zubair for his tenure as chairman. It commended the role he played in introducing and developing a working system and setting up of working committees of the board and other various programmes, including the adoption of the theme “Sport for Development” and achievement of the objectives of this theme, eventually resulting in signing a number of agreements in support of sports associations and committees in partnership with the private sector. The board wished him every success in his life.
The board reviewed the items on its agenda beginning with perusal of the records of the board’s meetings and last General Assembly and discussion of some observations mentioned therein.
The records of the Board’s third and fourth meetings held on August 7 and September 25 were approved. The records of the meeting of the General Assembly will be brought forward to the next General Assembly meeting for approval.
The meeting also reviewed the final draft of OOC’s Statutes following amendments and additions thereto made by the legal team set up for this purpose in the light of the outcome of the Extraordinary General Assembly held on August 8, 2018.
The Board emphasised that the procedures should be finalised to have the same translated and sent to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for final approval as set forth in the Olympic Charter.
In another respect, the Board was of the opinion that it was necessary to work towards finalizing the other requirements and raising a proposal of the conditions that the sports personalities should satisfy so that such conditions could be brought forward to the next meeting for final approval.
As with regard to the convening of the Extraordinary General Assembly to select OOC Chairman following resignation of Sheikh Khalid Al Zubair, former OOC Chairman, the Board was of the opinion that the procedures should be finalized first for approval of the revised OOC Statutes by the IOC. Then, the date of the extraordinary meeting can be decided. The Board pointed out that the situation should continue as it is following the assignment of Sheikh Saif bin Hilal Al Hosni as acting OOC Chairman.
The Board reviewed the records of the meetings of the supporting committee, foremost of which were the meetings of the Planning & Follow-up Committee concerning participation of the Sultanate in the 18th Asian Games held in Indonesia from August 18 through to September 2, 2018 and the third Youth Olympic Games held in Argentina last October and adopted relevant decisions.
The Board directed that the sports associations be addressed regarding some observations which were carefully discussed in avoidance of their repetition in the forthcoming games. The Board further reviewed the record of the second meeting of Oman Solidarity Committee which included the Olympic Solidarity’s programmes for the next year and Tokyo 2020 subsidy and the existing coordination with the Planning and Follow-up Committee concerning determination of those who are entitled to such subsidies.
The attendants reviewed the record of the first meeting of Oman Athletes Committee in which the members presented proposal for the design of a form listing Omani athletes and for onward transmission to the Board for necessary direction and possibility of publication on the OOC’s website. They commended the efforts being made by the supporting committees for developing activities and programmes entrusted to them as per the terms of reference of each committee. The Board directed that the recommendations raised by these supporting committees be decided upon. The Board directed the OOC’s General Secretariat with reference to the reports and records raised by the supporting committee to forward an integrated report on the progress of work so that such report could be discussed at the next meeting.
The meeting perused the copy forwarded to the Board concerning the Olympic Champion Project. In this respect, the Board decided to assign a working team to review the same and coordinate with the concerned staff at the Planning and Follow-up Committee for its approval as a technical reference for OOC and other sports associations. It is noteworthy that this project would be carried out in phases in partnership with the government entities and various relevant units.
The Board reviewed the final revised version of the OOC’s Organisational Structure and directed that necessary amendments be made for final approval. It also reviewed the final draft of the working strategy and internal system of the Oman Olympic Academy.
The Board expressed its thanks and appreciation for the efforts made by the assigned working team in this regard.
The academy is expected to serve as an Olympic educational and cultural hub that contributes to developing Omani cadres and disseminating the Olympic philosophy.
The academy aims to qualify and upgrade human competences in various sports sciences in the best modernized and advanced methods and to enrich, boost and propagate Olympic values and ideals. The academy also seeks to serve as a platform for scientific research in sports and Olympic fields and for adoption of constructive ideas and initiatives relating to sports and Olympic movement. The attendants decided that the academy should be officially opened on December 3, 2018.
The Board decided to assign the OOC’s Secretary General to attend the meetings of the ANOC General Assembly and the annual ceremony which will be held in Tokyo, Japan, from November 27-29 together with Saadah Al Ismailiyah, Board member and Vice-chairman of Oman Women’s Sport Committee, who should also be present at those meetings at the invitation she received from ANOC’s Secretary General.
The Board approved participation of Oman Women’s Sport Committee in the 6th GCC Women’s Sports Games to be held in Kuwait from March 3-13, 2019 in eight sports, namely volleyball, athletics, shooting, handball, taekwondo, basketball, bowling and athletics for persons with special needs.
The Board took note of the progress of work made on the standard statutes of the sports associations by the assigned legal working team as well as the final draft of the standard election regulation of the OOC and sports associations.
The Board congratulated athlete Ali Al Balushi for the results he achieved in the Third Youth Olympic Games.
The Board perused the financial status of the OOC and the draft 2019 budget and gave instructions and directions on some observations made by the attendants. In conclusion, the board approved participation in the World Beach Games scheduled to be held in the city of San Diego, California, United States, from October 10-15, 2019. The Board directed the Planning and Follow-up Committee to finalise initial procedures for the proposed games and coordinate with the sports associations directly to know about their preparation programmes and expected results.
