?PRESIDENTS of the GCC National Olympic Committees yesterday (MAY 19) gave the green light for the implementation of several new recommendations in an attempt to bolster joint sports action bylaws.
The meeting was one of several gatherings in Bahrain, featuring high-ranking sports representatives from around the Gulf region in an attempt to develop youth and sports sectors in the GCC.
Held at the Ritz Carlton’s Al Ghazal Ballroom, the penultimate day of this six-day regional gathering featured the GCC National Sports Committees Presidents meeting, where the recommendations submitted by the Executive Office were approved.
They included increment in the total allocated budget for the GCC Sports Committees, revising the regulations of joint GCC action in the sports field and the bylaw of the GCC Secretariat Award for the best GCC Sport Organising Committee.
Chaired by Supreme Council for Youth and Sports chairman and Bahrain Olympic Committee president Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the meeting highlighted a number of subjects that needed to be finalised.
They include the final report on the Third GCC Women’s Games, which Bahrain hosted this year in March, in addition to the GCC General Secretariat participation in the joint GCC activities in the sports field.
On his part, General Secretary of the Gulf Corporation Council (GCC) Dr. Abdullatif Al Zayani, who congratulated Shaikh Nasser on the launching of the Bahrain Olympic Committee new strategy and lauded Bahrain’s efforts in organising the meetings.
A number of senior sports officials in the Gulf region were honoured on this occasion in appreciation to their efforts and contributions to sports development in the GCC.
They were former GCC Cycling Organising Committee chairman Shaikh Faisal Al Qasmi, Saudi Arabia Olympic Committee general secretary Dr. Rashid Al Huraiwel and his Omani counterpart Hilal Al Sinani.
The top three winning GCC Sports Committees for the GCC Sports and Environment Award were also honoured on this occasion.
The GCC Cycling Organising Committee, headed by Bahrain’s Shaikh Khalid bin Hamad Al Khalifa, has won first place award and ahead of the GCC Women’s and Sailing Organising Committees.
Meanwhile, the programme of this regional gathering is scheduled to conclude today when the GCC Youth and Sports Ministers meeting takes place at 11am at the same venue.
This week-long event got underway on Wednesday the Co-operation and Follow-up Committee, the Executive Office’s consultative meetings, the 77th meeting of the Executive Office of GCC National Olympic Committees’ Presidents and the 30th meeting of the GCC Youth and Sports Ministries’ Undersecretaries.