12-member Qatar squad for 2008 Grand Prix announced

DOHA, January 12, 2008 (Afzal Mehmood Shaikh): Qatar Fencing Federation (QFF) has recently released the list of 12-member Qatar squad who are participating in the forthcoming Fifth Qatar International Fencing Tournament – Grand Prix 2008, which will take place at Aspire from January 18-21, 2008.

The squad includes Adel Al-Jailani, Nasr Al-Saadi, Abdullah Ebrahimi, Ahmed El Siddiq, Abdulla Jemaan, Musaid Mansour, Mohammed Ali Mirzaei, Mohammed Musaed, Mohammed Naem, Abdulrahman Najm Al-Deen, Ali Ibrahim Sayari, and Yahia Qasim Abdulla.

Head Coach – Ali Belhaj and Christophe Clement – assistant coach, who are working closely with the national team are expecting the competition to be exciting.

"Our fencers are training well at the Al Sadd training center, it will be quite an exciting tournament, as we will see world's best epeeists competing in Qatar to kick start their 2008 campaign.

"Qatar Grand Prix is the most crucial for any fencer who is in thirst for a place in 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, the winner in the individual category will earn three points and the team one for the qualification of Beijing Olympics," said Ali Belhaaj.

The fencers will head to Kuwait from Qatar to participate in this year's second Grand Prix. There will be five Grand Prix prior to the Beijing Olympic Games. The first competition is organised in Qatar, followed by Kuwait, Sweden, Italy and Montreal.

A total of 232 delegates including, 179 fencers, 30 coach, 8 officials, and 15 chief delegates will be staying in Qatar for the three-day tournament.