14 Monday, March 8, 2021 Sports Entries open for Qatar’s new round of FIM Bajas World Cup

Tribune News Network and southern deserts to finish LOSAIL at Sealine, south of Doha. Competitors will then re- Entries are now open turn to the Losail Sports Are- and beginning to come in na for the post-event press for the new Qatar Interna- conference (17.30hrs) and the tional Baja, the Qatar Motor ceremonial finish (18.00hrs). and Motorcycle Federation’s The QMMF has also intro- (QMMF) exciting addition to duced an exciting new team the expanded 2021 FIM Bajas concept for riders competing World Cup, taking place on in the National category. A April 8th-10th. team of two eligible riders will Motorcycle and quad riders be able to enter and poten- and drivers of SSV vehicles tially run separately or share a can expect to face 504.24 motorcycle or a quad, provid- competitive kilometres ed that both entrants possess through the Qatar deserts in the minimum of a ‘National’ a compact route of 872.44km. status licence. For teams us- Officials at the QMMF, ing two machines, each must working under the chair- be fitted with a road book manship of QMMF President Abdulrahman Al Mannai, Executive Director Amro Al Exciting team format Hamad and committee mem- introduced for National ber Abdulrazaq Al-Kuwari, category riders have laid on a varied and Qatar Volleyball Association, in cooperation with the Katara, and under the supervision of the ” FIVB ” is hosting the fourth edition of the 4-star Katara Cup 2021. challenging Baja that features Qatar will participate with four teams – Qatar (1) Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tejan, Qatar (2) Saif and Ziyad, Qatar (3) Issam and Abdullah, and Qatar (4) Al Musalmani and Gusson. sand dunes, fast sandy sec- reader and a mounting brack- tions, testing navigation and et to accept a Stella GPS unit. the unique terrain associated One of the team riders will with Qatar’s arid desert. tackle the super special stage Baja Director Pedro and then the concept follows Almeida and his assistant a relay-type format. Each day, FIVB Beach Volleyball Rashid Al-Sulaiti have con- one rider will tackle roughly firmed that the competitive half of the desert selective action will get underway with section to the refuelling point, a 6.7km super special stage at with the other taking over Simasmina – 16km from rally for the second part to the headquarters at the Losail finish. Where a two-rider World Tour from today Sports Arena - from 15.25hrs team is entered, each compet- on Thursday, April 8th. itor will tackle around 125km Tribune News Network on the World Tour. After a liaison section of per day. Doha The remaining 21 pairs di- 74.47km from Losail, the first Equipment can be trans- rectly seeded into the men’s of the desert selective sections ported to and from the start The FIVB Beach Volleyball main draw include three on Friday (April 9th) starts and finish of the stages, but World Tour 4-Star Katara is teams from Qatar, two each at Al-Jumaliya and incorpo- bikes and quads must be back with the first 4-star stop from Austria, Latvia, the rates four passage controls placed in parc fermé at the in 12 months. Netherlands and USA, and in a competitive distance of conclusion of the Baja. Tro- The best players in the one each from , Canada, 248.80km through the cen- phies will be awarded to the world have gathered in Doha Chile, Czechia, Italy, Norway, tral and northern regions of teams that finish in the top to resume their race to qualify Poland, Russia, Spain and Qatar. three in this new and innova- for Tokyo 2020. Coincidental- Switzerland. A second liaison of tive category. ly, the Katara Beach Volleyball The top three in the FIVB 87.71km returns riders and Entries close at reduced Cup in the Qatari capital was World Ranking also lead the drivers to the Losail Sports rates on Thursday, March the last big Tour stop before women’s preliminary seeding Arena. 18th with the final cut-off set the 357-day “freeze” and is all for of the Katara Beach Volley- The final stage offor Monday, March 29th. Full set to be the first to re-open ball Cup. The 34-year-old Rio 248.74km on Saturday, April details on entry concessions proceedings. Olympian Sarah Pavan and 10th starts at Al-Kharsaah, for each category are available Having hosted eight men- 28-year-old Melissa Humana- 80.53km from rally head- in the supplementary regula- only Tour stops since 2014, Paredes, who joined forces quarters, and also utilises four tions (subject to final FIM ap- including the 1-star event that right after the Games in 2016, passage controls. It winds its proval) now posted on www. took place last month, Doha is became world champions in dusty trail through the central qmmf.com ready for its ninth overall and 2019. As the number one team first ever double-gender tour- in the world, they are chasing nament. In addition, in Oc- their 11th World Tour podium, tober 2019, the Qatari capital More than 100 men’s and women’s teams are participating in the tournament from 28 countries viz: Brazil, after five golds, four silvers welcomed an FIVB-sanctioned France, Austria, America, Switzerland, Norway, Belgium, Russia, Italy, Spain, Estonia, Poland, Gambia, Germany, and a bronze. beach volleyball 4x4 event in Netherlands, Turkey, Sweden, Denmark. Lativa, Czech, India, Canada, Greece, Germany, Japan, Lituania, Qatar. Alexandra Klineman and both genders as part of the April Ross are in number two. ANOC World Beach Games. team pool advancing to the 2018-2019 World Tour sea- They challenged the Russians The US pair topped the po- The US$ 300,000 prize- single elimination phase. The son, snatched the titles at both in the gold medal matches at dium at their very first World money competition is set pool winners will advance di- the 2019 FIVB Beach Volley- both the World Championship Tour event together in Janu- to start on Monday, March rectly to the eighthfinals, while ball World Championship in and the World Tour Finals, ary 2018 and will be chasing 8, and last through Friday, the pool runners-up and the Hamburg and the 2019 World but had to settle for the silver their fifth Tour gold as they March 12, at the Al Gharrafa third-placed pairs will play in Tour Finals in . Having medals. They have one more compete in the Qatari capi- Sports Complex. the round of 24. already qualified for Tokyo, silver and two bronze medals tal. The 34-year-old two-time 101 teams (56 men’s and With 24 duos seeded di- the Russian pair will aim for on the World Tour and are yet Olympic medallist Ross and 45 women’s duos) from 30 rectly into the main draw, the their fourth gold medal on to win their first gold. her 31-year-old partner also different countries, represent- remaining eight spots will be the Tour and hope to narrow Reigning Olympic cham- have a World Championship ing all five continental confed- contested in qualifications to the gap between them and the pion and two-time Olympic silver from Hamburg 2019, erations, have signed up for be played on Monday. number one team in the world medallist Alison Cerutti and where they lost to the Canadi- the Katara Beach Volleyball Russia’s Viacheslav Kra- ranking, Norway’s Anders Mol his current partner Alvaro ans in the final. Cup, with both the men’s and silnikov and Oleg Stoyanovs- and Christian Sorum. Stoy- Morais Filho are the number Rio Olympic silver medal- the women’s reigning world kiy lead the preliminary seed- anovskiy has already been on three team in the FIVB World list and 2015 world champion champions leading the prelim- ing for the men’s tournament. the Katara Cup podium. In Ranking and the number three Agatha Bednarczuk and 2014 inary seeding on entry points. 29-year-old Rio Olympian 2018, he won silver in partner- team on the list for Doha. The Youth Olympic champion and In each gender a 32-team Krasilnikov and 24-year-old ship with Igor Velichko. Brazilian partnership began in five-time age-category world main draw will feature a modi- Nanjing Youth Olympic Germany’s top pair Julius April 2019, and by the end of champion Eduarda Santos fied pool play system with the champion Stoyanovskiy, who Thole and Clemens Wickler the year had already claimed Lisboa (Duda) of Brazil are top three teams in each four- teamed up for the start of the come next down the men’s list. two gold and two silver medals next down the list. Dune bike action from a recent Qatar Cross-Country Rally.

Serge Ferrari completes architectural membranes installation at Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium Tribune News Network opportunity to prove its ability weather resistance, with their durability, translucency — or Doha to meet the architectural chal- durability consistently tested, even transparency for some lenges associated with these while also being watertight products — the UV resistance, Serge Ferrari Group, which high-profile sports venues. and offering natural light” ex- and barrier against heat. specializes in the design, man- The innovative compos- plained Mohammad Bahsh, Additionally, the mem- ufacturing and distribution of ite membranes developed by Manager of Pre-sales Activi- branes are customizable, such high-technology and innova- the group were chosen by the ties in Middle East & Qatar of as the locally printed display tive eco-friendly composite venue’s architects from the Serge Ferrari Group. signage with traditional Qatari materials has just completed early design phase due to their “It’s the ideal use of ma- patterns. the installation of more than architectural and technical terial for the design of these As a trusted partner, the 30,000 square meters of ar- qualities. stadiums and we are so hon- Serge Ferrari Group was also chitectural membranes on the Used in the building of oured to mark our footprints tasked to apply their premium Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium in Al several stadiums that will in this extraordinary project,” construction methods and Rayyan, Qatar. host the FIFA World Cup Qa- he continued. materials across several other A world-leading partner tar 2022™, the Serge Ferrari The high-grade quali- Qatari stadiums including Al for the construction of perma- Group has worked diligently ties that make Serge Ferrari Bayt Stadium, Education City nent and temporary venues to offer the most innovative Group’s building materials Stadium, Thumama Stadium, hosting major international building solutions. superior include: - The capac- and Lusail Stadium. sporting events such as the “We are so proud to have ity to follow the contours and The Serge Ferrari Group and Rio Olympics, been chosen by the Supreme curves of the roof, which was takes much pride in being part the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Committee for Delivery & Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium -- one of the venues for FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022. designed to evoke sand dunes. of this mega project and looks Brazil, the UEFA European Legacy (SC), the organisation The high technical perfor- forward to this spectacular Championship, the Serge Fer- responsible for delivering the the FIFA World Cup Qatar construction of several sta- the tournament. Our flexible mance that is demonstrated event which will forever be en- rari Group, once again had the infrastructure required for 2022™, to take part in the diums that will be used for building materials promise to in the dimensional stability, trenched in Qatar’s history.