Omani stars will be under focus at Oman Sports Conference and Exhibition

Sports Monday 11/April/2016 21:21 PM
By: Times News Service
Omani stars will be under focus at Oman Sports Conference and Exhibition

Muscat: Omani stars, including football legend Ali Al Habsi, will be under focus during the four-day Oman Sports Conference and Exhibition to be organised from April 18.
This year the annual event includes the fourth edition of the conference and the second edition of exhibition, which will run till April 21.
According to Fahd Al Raisi, Director General of Sports Development and Welfare, besides goalkeeping hero Ali Al Habsi there will be four other Omani stars who will be under focus as international experts present their views and share their experiences with the attendees.
Speaking at a press conference organised to introduce Oman Air and Oman LNG Development Foundation as the main sponsors of the event and also to give the details both the conference and exhibition, Fahd Al Raisi said: “We have tried to include some of local and regional experts, including our own sports stars, as well as international experts. But the main criteria we looked at in selecting these experts is how the Omani youth and sports sectors will benefit from these invited speakers.”
Fahd Al Raisi, after introducing Oman Air and Oman LNG as the main sponsors of the event, said: “We will have as many as five Omani stars under focus during the conference on April 18.”
The list of Omani stars who will under the focus includes football stars Ali Al Habsi and Imad Al Hosni, popular motor racer Ahmad Al Harthy, tennis sensation Fatma Al Nabhani and star athlete Barakat Al Harthi.
The conference, a one day affair, will comprise three sessions — first one on Sports Management, second on Sports Funding and the third on ‘Display of Successful Youth in Sports’.
The key speakers during the first sessions include Khalid Al Hachani, Advisor for Sports Planning at the Ministry of Sports Affairs, Professor Emmanuel Bayle from Institute of Sports Science at Lausanne University, and Dr. Atef Abdullah Al Ruwaidan, Director of Jordan’s Al Hussain Youth City.
Jirayr Habibian, Sports Lawer and CAS Arbitrator, Professor Waldimir Andreff of University of Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne and Joaquin Martinez of University of Barcelona will be presenting their papers in the second session.
During the third session, besides five Omani stars, the others who will be delivering lectures are Humaid Al Balushi, producer and presenter of Al Kas Qatar Sports, Qatar’s Aspire Academy’s Director General Ivan Bravo as well as Oman Sail’s CEO David Graham.
Asked about the absence of ‘big names’ from the list of speakers, Fahd Al Raisi said: “As I said earlier, our criteria in selecting the speakers has never been the ‘big names’. Our objective has always been to invite the experts who can present their ideas and share their experiences.
“What’s the use of inviting big names when we cannot achieve our objective — that is to make the event beneficial for our youth and sports sector.”
To stress that the ministry has always tried to invite the best in their respective field, he quoted an example from the previous edition: “Previously we had invited Gianni Infantino because of his expertise and knowledge. Now everybody is talking about that event because he is now the FIFA chief,” he said.
Mohammed Al Shukaili, General Manager of Marketing at Oman Air, and Oman LNG representative Rashid Al Nasri also spoke on the occasion and expressed their respective organisations’ pleasure in sponsoring the event.
Exhibition
Later, Fahd Al Raisi revealed the details of the exhibition which will be inaugurated by Minister of Sports Affairs Sheikh Saad bin Mohammed Al Mardhouf Al Saadi at the Oman International Exhibition Centre.
“There will be a total of 35 entities, including the sports associations, committees and clubs, who will be presenting their ideas and activities. There will also be 30 sports companies and private sector organisations who will be presenting their ideas and promoting their products,” he said.
The prominent clubs who will be putting up stalls at the exhibition are Al Shabab, Sur, Sohar, Saham, Ibri, Oman, Seeb and Salam. This time there will also be two cricket stalls — one by governing body Oman Cricket and Al Hail Cricket Team.
Oman Women's Sports Committee, Oman Photography Society, Royal Omani Amateur Radio Society and Omani Society of Fine Arts will also be among the exhibitors.