The University of Doha for Science and Technology (UDST) yesterday celebrated the FISU International Day of University Sport and its Healthy Campus Platinum Award with a series of fun and engaging sports activities that will run for one week across the campus.
The university’s community will have the chance to participate in several activities focused on well-being, physical activities and a healthy lifestyle, until September 22, with fitness classes, campus-wide warm-ups, friendly basketball, football, volleyball, cricket matches and more.
The event witnessed “Fun Olympics” encouraging students to participate in teams that represent their countries. The participating teams entered a challenge filled with a variety of fun and engaging games with the objective of being crowned as the Best Country on the day.
Dr Salem Al-Naemi, president of UDST, said: “We are a proud member organisation of the International University Sports Federation (FISU) and it is our pleasure to be celebrating the International Day of University Sport and our platinum label in the world-class facilities that our campus boasts. Today on the verge of the most prestigious tournament in the world, the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, we are presenting sport as a platform for our students to come together, have fun and develop. Sport is part of every culture, it is a powerful tool that fosters collaboration, positivity, performance and engagement. Sport plays a major role in the Qatar National Vision 2030 and, as a national university, we aim to support our nation’s vision through many ambitious initiatives that will achieve economic and human development.”
On the sidelines of the event, the leader of the team who got the third place, Hasan Daban, a first-year mechanical engineering student, said: “It’s team work not my work, it’s a nice event, everyone wanted to join, it was fun. We congratulate the first team. The students were very engaged in the games and were enjoying the activities in a fun and fair play spirit, as all sportsmen.”
Saad Ahmad, the leader of the team who got the first place, a third-year mechanical engineering student, said: “The diversity was amazing, we were from various nationalities, and the main message was for us to practice sports together, it is about health. Everybody needs to get out there for the mental and emotional strength. Everybody felt as part of one community, that was the goal of the game. The students came to make many friends and they did. So, it was an amazing experience for us. This event is going to get bigger in the future. The new students look up to their seniors, we are trying to set the standards high for the students to come to UDST, the fun Olympics was a success.”
Tony Martin, the department head of sports at UDST, said: “We are in a new facility, it’s a great start to break it in with some wonderful students’ activities. We are celebrating all week, not one day. UDST was recently, granted the Healthy Campus Platinum Label by the International University Sports Federation. UDST is the first university in the Mena region to earn this label. We believe that student activities, student fun and balance is important for the academics, the extra-curricular and the fun activities on campus, we make sure to try to help the students find the right balance. UDST, our president Dr Salem Al-Naemi, our executive board are all supporting the balance, health and wellness of our students, our faculty and staff. This is part of our campus wellness strategy, which is a much broader package that we will be developing and announcing soon. Students like the idea of coming to UDST for the quality of academic programmes, and we have quality programmes supporting the health and wellness of our students as well.”
The Sports Week will conclude with a Kick-Off of the ‘World Cup’-themed UDST Annual Futsal Tournament.
As part of the FISU network, UDST will be promoting the International Day of University Sport on September 20, a day that was officially proclaimed by the United Nations Education, Science and Culture Organisation.
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Dr Salem Al-Naemi with students. PICTURES: Shaji Kayamkulam
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The second team.
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