09 Dec 2016
Doha, 9 December, 2016. Seven Aspire Academy student athletes lined up at the start of the prestigious Qatar 2016 Fencing Grand Prix which got underway at the ASPIRE Academy on Friday 9 December. The competition is open to all players and Aspire student athletes who are the youngest and the least experienced have entered the tournament more for the sake of getting some top level competition as well as gain much needed experience than seeking victory or progress further in the tournament.
Aspire Academy student athletes namely, Ali Mohamed Mirzaei, Yousef Al-Bader, Ali Owaida, Ali Al-Sulaiti, Muftah Al-Mohamed, Khalid Al-Mulla and Saoud Al-Malki acquitted themselves well during Friday’s play with perhaps the best result from the lot of them being one victory that Khalid Al-Mulla scored against a much older and experienced player. Saoud Al-Malki went very close narrowly losing 5-4 twice to seasoned and older opponents. Qatar fencing team coach Mohamed El Sabhy who is in charge of the Aspire Academy student athlete fencers was pleased with his charges’ overall performance, “ It’s a huge advantage to us that this is an open competition and we enter our young fencers so they can be motivate and learn from stiff competition which they don’t always get regularly. It is fantastic preparation for our forthcoming tournaments in GCC and Asia. I am thrilled with Khalid Al-Mulla’s win and Saoud Al-Malki played amazingly well and when you consider our boys are mere teenagers playing against fencers who have loads of experience you will appreciate that they have done well", said coach El Sabahy.
The 2016 Qatar Fencing Grand Prix runs from 9-11 December and will bring together more than 300 fencers (men and women) representing over 50 countries from across the world. The Qatar Fencing Federation (QFF) has been organizing the Grand Prix since 2005 in accordance with the Federation Internationale D’Escrime (FIE).