THE fifth edition of the GCC Women’s Games commence today in Doha.
Around 891 athletes and technical teams representing four Gulf countries – Bahrain, Oman, the UAE and hosts Qatar - will be taking part in the 11-day event.
Competition will be held in 10 disciplines - basketball, handball, table tennis, volleyball, chess, athletics, shooting, fencing, taekwondo and bowling.
Today’s opening ceremony at 7.30pm at Khalifa Tennis and Squash Complex will be held under the auspices of Sheikha Hind bint Hamad Al Thani.
The last batch of the Bahrain delegation reached Doha yesterday. The handball, volleyball and fencing teams also held their first training sessions yesterday.
Bahrain is competing in nine disciplines as they look forward to become the overall winners of the games for the third consecutive time, having captured the title in the third and fourth editions held in Bahrain (2013) and Muscat (2015) respectively.
Dominated
The nationals dominated the previous edition winning 33 medals in total, including 22 gold, six silver and five bronze.
The nationals will take part in athletics, taekwondo, bowling, shooting, volleyball, basketball, handball, fencing and table tennis.
Supreme Council for Youth and Sports deputy general secretary, Bahrain Olympic Committee (BOC) board member and Women’s Sport Committee chairwoman Shaikha Hayat bint Abdulaziz Al Khalifa is heading the Bahraini delegation in Doha.
The Bahrain administrative delegation includes Maryam Mirza, Mohammed Al Zayed, Maryam Mardana, Shareed Mohammed, Mohammed Al Rumaili and Hasan Ali.
Shaikha Hayat arrived in Doha on Sunday and will be attending the GCC Women’s Organising Committee meeting today.