Doha: The 28th Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Aquatics Championships, organised by the Qatar Swimming Association, kicks off today at Hamad Aquatics Centre with the participation of six Gulf countries.
The championship competitions will include three aquatic sports: swimming, diving and water polo. All competitions will be held in accordance with the laws of the International Swimming Federation (FINA) and the regulations of the technical committee of the organising committee of the Gulf Cooperation Council.
Team Qatar swimmers and water polo players are ready for the home challenge and have completed their preparations for the tournament, where the two teams successfully completed training camps in Bulgaria.
The diving team set up a training camp in Belarus as they geared up for the event which concludes on Sunday.
The three teams seek to achieve results that reflect the development of the level of water sports in Qatar and their prominent presence in the Gulf championships where the Qatari team won first place for the age groups completions in the last four editions of the tournament.
The last edition of the GCC Aquatics Championships was held in Kuwait in 2019, in which the Qatar team won the title of the age groups after winning 34 medals, including 17 gold, in addition to 10 silver and 7 bronze medals.
The officials of QatarSwimming Association and Gulf Cooperation Council during a pre-event technical meeting with regard to the 28th Aquatics Championships at the Sheraton Hotel in Doha, yesterday.
They also won 9 medals (7 gold, a silver and a bronze) in the general stage competitions, and 4 medals (a gold and 3 bronze) in the ten-year stage.
The swimming competitions which will be held today and tomorrow will include the general stages of the age groups (11-12, 13-14, 15-17 years old). The open and U-10 events will be held on Saturday and Sunday.
The first day’s competition program will includes 24 races. The 800m freestyle, 50m freestyle, 400m medley, 100m butterfly and 4x200m freestyle races will be held in the morning for the 15-17 year category.
Apart from that, the 50m freestyle, 200m medley, 100m butterfly and 200m backstroke for class 13 -14 years age, and 50m freestyle, 200m medley and 100m butterfly for the 11-12 year category will also take place in the morning session.
The evening session will witness the 400 m freestyle, 50m butterfly, 100m breaststroke, 200m backstroke, 4 x 100m freestyle races for the 15-17 year category, and 400m freestyle 50m butterfly, 100m breaststroke and 4 x 100m for 13-14 years, 50m butterfly, 100m breaststroke and 4 x 100m freestyle for 11-12 years.
Diving competitions also will be held for the age groups (11 years and below, 13 years and below, 14-15 years, and the public), while water polo competitions will be held for the age group 18 years and below.
The 28th Championships was scheduled for last year 2020, but due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the organising Committee decided to postpone all the championships included in the 2020 calendar to this year.
