TOURNAMENTS LIKE BEACH RUGBY HAVE BEEN INSTRUMENTAL – AL-KUWARI

The Qatar Rugby Federation, recently went on all out to take a preliminary stock of the recently concluded second edition of the Qatar Rugby 7s.

The tournament which saw players put in about 588 minutes of action from about 36 preliminary round of matches and the six matches, had no less than 156 tries all through.

The unbeaten Camels both in the first edition and this posed a question to the organisers, as their dominance in the tournament was complete and not closely rivalled by any of the other teams.

The President of the QRF, Yousef al-Kuwari had said when asked about the gap between the Camels and the rest of the teams, that they (the organisers) realize the gap, which was quite bigger when it started last season.

He however believes that, there was a lot of competition this time around from other teams, such as the Doha club, and he is hoping that more support would be given to the other teams to help them improve.

And despite the tournament which had seen just seven teams participate in the two editions, the number doesn’t seem to worry al-Kuwari as he believes that those showing up are clubs of good quality.

Al-Kuwari was also asked about what steps the QRF are taking towards promoting rugby in the country and he was quoted as saying,

“One of our plans is to involve our local clubs. We are looking forward to meeting these clubs and will propose to them if they are willing to sponsor a team each. That might make a big difference for us.

“We have ried building grassroots tournaments, through initiatives like Beach Rugby, which have been instrumental in getting attention from the public. Then there are the games we host on the Qatar National Sport Day. We are looking at anything and everything to get in more players.”