Qatar celebrates Sport Day today amid precautions

Qatar will mark 2021 National Sport Day, encouraging the community to stay active and embrace a healthy lifestyle while adhering to health guidelines amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. A series of virtual activities have been scheduled by several organisations to involve all members of the community to mark the national celebration of sport and wellbeing. Online workouts and exercises for children, inspirational talks, yoga sessions, and inclusive sporting demonstrations will encourage people to get into the National Sport Day activities. Qatar celebrates National Sport Day on second Tuesday of every February with various activities for all age groups throughout Qatar. The Qatar Sports for All (QSFA) Federation has announced on its website that there will be a live broadcast of sports activities on the social media channels and through its app. QSFA has also announced a challenge to the public to share images of completing 10,000 steps. It has said winners will be announced through a draw. Qatar Foundation (QF)’s virtual National Sport Day offerings encourage people to make sport and physical activity a central part of their lives, and to provide opportunities for them to maintain and improve their physical and mental wellbeing. The activities include discussion on topics such as living a balanced lifestyle; women, youth, and sports development; mental wellbeing; exercise and mental health; and how to succeed in sports. Professional instructors from gyms and fitness centres across Qatar will be holding sessions that are open to everyone through a dedicated National Sport Day section on QF’s website, while a series of activities for all ages are now ready for people to register for through the newly-launched Education City App. Meanwhile, the Physiotherapy Department of the Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) marked National Sport Day by launching its “Physiotherapy Online Exercise Program”. The new website, which is hosted at www.hamad.qa, features 609 videos for patients and will continue to expand to reach 1,500 videos. The website is intended to enhance the patient experience and enable them to access exercise information in a safe and convenient manner, helping their journey to recovery. HMC has also requested the pubic to carry out all sports activities for this year’s National Sport Day such as running, swimming and cycling individually, as a precaution against the pandemic. The National Sports Day Committee also called on all members of society who practice sports to commit to taking several preventive measures, such as wearing masks, except for the time of practicing sports activity, stressing that a thermal examination must be conducted for practitioners of sports activity upon entering any area to practice and to prevent the participation of those whose temperature reaches more than 37.8 C, in addition to making sure that participants have a green colour status on EHTERAZ application. The Committee also said that contact sports such as football matches are not permitted, nor are sports in which several teams compete in a limited space. Sports that require physical contact such as ball matches are also not allowed. Public attendance in places of sports activities is also not allowed this Sport Day.