?Supreme Council for Youth and Sports chairman and Bahrain Olympic Committee president Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa yesterday (April 21) called for a GCC body to settle sports disputes.
This came during the 28th meeting of the GCC National Olympic Committees’ Presidents held yesterday in Kuwait. The meeting was part of an annual GCC summit, aimed to boost ties among national Olympic Committees in the Arabian Gulf region.
In yesterday’s key meeting, chaired by Kuwait Olympic Committee President Shaikh Dr Talal Al Ahmed Al Subah, Shaikh Nasser presented his proposal to set up a regional organization comprising athletes, sports federations, national clubs and national Olympic committee to look into disputes over sports-related issues in the Arabian Gulf region.
Shaikh Nasser’s initiative was welcomed by all Presidents of the GCC national Olympic Committees who attended this meeting, and noted that this proposal will provide a boosting sporting and legal environment for fair competiveness.
The GCC national Olympic Committees Presidents directed the general secretaries of the GCC national Olympic Committees to coordinate with the GCC General Secretariat to discuss the suggested draft in their next meeting, and prepare an integrated statute to specify the executive frameworks and determine the headquarters of this organization.
Other topics of mutual interest were also discussed in the meeting, such as approving the new date for Qatar to host the GCC Beach Games in April 2015, while granted Saudi Arabia to organize the Second GCC Games in Dammam from October 18 to 28, 2015. They also agreed that the UAE will play host to the first edition of the GCC Junior Games in 2016.
The joint GCC action bylaws in the field of sport, in addition to the joint sport action development strategy, were among other recommendations approved in yesterday’s meeting.
Early on, Shaikh Nasser then honoured winners of the awards for GCC Sport and Environment the best GCC Sport Organising Committee.
Also during the meeting, Presidents of the GCC national Olympic Committee congratulated Shaikh Nasser on winning first place in the recently-concluded Dubai Triathlon.
Meanwhile, General Organisation for Youth and Sports President Hisham Al Jowder will deputize for Supreme Council for Youth and Sports general secretary Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa to chair the GCC Youth and Sports Ministers meeting today, the concluding day of this GCC summit.
