At the Qatar Olympic Committee Office in Doha

Officials from the Asian Cricket Council met with officials from the Qatar Olympic Committee to discuss cricket in Qatar. ACC Events Manager Sultan Rana described the meetings as “very productive in many aspects.” Cricket has ‘recognition status’ in the Olympic movement and is a part of the Asian Games. Even though citizenship laws prevent those currently playing cricket in Qatar from fielding a team at Incheon next year, Qatar has a self-proclaimed vision to “become a leading nation in bringing the world together through a sustainable sport development,” and is taking an increasingly active part in developing cricket, the second most popular sport in the country.

ACC Executive Board member, Kuwait Cricket Secretary General and Director Asian Games Department of the Olympic Council of Asia Haider Farman was also on hand at the meeting to shepherd things through. Kuwait is a prime example of how a Gulf nation can move from ICC Affiliate to ICC Associate status with good facilities, successful cricketers and good administration and it is felt by the ACC that Qatar too can make the leap. “They have two splendid grounds built in the past two years, one of them funded by the Qatar Olympic Committee and are in place to receive solid support from the QOC and ACC and ICC, they just need to ask for it and be able to receive it. They have great potential and for too long it has been underused. There are operational plans and budgets to propose, manage and execute. We feel that Qatar has every chance of becoming another ICC Associate and further strengthen cricket in this rapidly developing country”, said the ACC Events Manager.

From left to right: Director of Qatar Olympic Academy Tareq Saeed Al-Abdulla, ACC Development Officer Venkatapathi Raju, QOC Director of Sports Affairs Khaleel Al-Jabir, ACC Events Manager Sultan Rana, ACC Executive Board Member Haider Farman, ACC Compliance Officer Ganesan Sundarammoorthy in Doha on November 10, 2013

QOC Director of Sports Affairs Khaleel Al-Jabir, who described the ACC suggestions for Qatar’s cricket development as “very helpful” said that “we at QOC are glad to see that the ACC is putting much effort, in ensuring that the QCA reaches its best. We have already started our internal procedure to ensure that all ACC and ICC requirements are met, the soonest possible.”

Related:
Qatar Cricket Profile