Secretary General of the Qatar Rugby and Hockey Committee (QRHC), Abdullah Aman Al Khater
Doha: The recent approval of Qatar as a full member of the World Rugby Union is a testimony to the global recognition of the growth of the sport in the country and the exemplary way the sport is being administered in Qatar, the Secretary General of the Qatar Rugby and Hockey Committee (QRHC), Abdullah Aman Al Khater, has said.
With the admission as a full member of World Rugby, Qatar was able to participate in the 16th World Rugby General Assembly that was held in Paris on October 26 for the first time in history.
Qatar was, on May 11, 2023, given the nod to be a full member of the global federation for rugby, alongside Turkiye and Nepal, at the annual meeting of the World Rugby Council, making it only the second GCC and the fifth Arab country to be given the recognition out of the 114 countries with full membership in the federation.
There are a total of 132 member countries in the World Rugby Union, of which 18 are associate members.
“It has been a long and arduous task to get to where we are today, considering the history of rugby in Qatar. The sport came to this shore in 1974, and it has been growing steadily since then. Getting full membership is like the icing on the cake for all our efforts, and I am very proud to be a part of this federation under the leadership of QRHC President Yousef Jaham Al Kuwari,” he said.
The QRHC Secretary-General noted that the requirements for becoming a full member of the union require a lot of obligations to meet and several hurdles to cross along the way, but in the end, Qatar was able to scale through.
“Thanks to the unquantifiable support of the leadership of the country, with special recognition to the Qatar Olympic Committee (QOC), we were able to make the nation proud and place Qatar firmly among the comity of nations in global rugby, which is a thing of pride to everyone in Qatar,” he added.
Khater added that the recently held Asian Rugby Sevens Trophy (ARST), hosted by the federation with the great support of the Qatar Olympic Committee early in November, was acknowledged as one of the best ever tournaments of its kind on the continent.
“Though we did not win, the performance of our teams was quite outstanding. We were able to feature our female team for the first time in the tournament’s history, and moreover, the continental body and all participants acknowledged that the hospitality and quality of the organization and the tournament itself were top-notch and a challenge to others. This is a great thing of joy for all of us—the organizers,” Khater, who has over four decades of experience in sport both as a player and administrator, said.
Speaking about his experience in sport, Khater noted that, as a handball player with Al Wassil Sport Club in Dubai during the 1970s, he, along with his four brothers, laid the foundation for a legacy that would extend far beyond the borders of the Emirates.
“Winning the Sheikh Zayed Cup in handball in 1979, where we defeated Sharjah with a three-goal difference, was an early testament to my passion for sport and the beginning of a lifelong dedication to sports administration,” Khater said.
He added that he thereafter moved back home to Qatar, where he played for Al Rayyan for several years and then transitioned to sports administration upon his retirement as a player, first as a board member of Al Rayyan before being elected into the Asian Handball Federation. He later became the Director of Venues and Events at Aspire Academy, from where he joined the Qatar Rugby and Hockey Committee.
Khater noted that one of the significant achievements of the present federation is being able to make it increasingly popular among the citizens.
“Previously, rugby was more of an expat sport, but the narrative is changing fast at the moment. We now have more and more Qataris taking to the sport, to the extent that we now have a female Qatari among our female team. We are gradually getting to where we are going, and I am very optimistic that rugby will in the near future be among the most popular sports in Qatar,” Khater said.
