(MENAFN- Gulf Times) HE the Minister of Culture and Sports Salah bin Ghanem bin Nasser al-Ali has lavished praise on Qatar Motorsports Academy (QMA) and said he was confident that Qatari champions will graduate from the academy in the future.
Last month, Losail Circuit Sports Club (LCSC), Dorna Sports SL and Aspire Academy joined forces to launch the QMA, which gives young riders between the age of eight and 16 years the opportunity to learn from the experts and improve their skills. Al-Ali paid a visit to the academy at Losail Circuit last weekend and was briefed about the international class facility, which provides both theoretical and practical lessons for the budding rides. The minister lauded the efforts of LCSC for their initiative to launch the academy. 'Lusail Circuit have taken a special step to launch the academy, which is open to Qatar citizens as well as residents, he said
Al-Ali was impressed with the enrollment of 24 Qataris children in the academy out of 71 children. 'It's a remarkable and unexpected number and I am optimistic more Qatari children will enrol in the academy next year. Our ambition in the academy is to create strong relations with academies all over the world and expand the sport in Qatar. Qatar has many heroes in motorsport, most notably Nasser Saleh al-Attiyah, and want to create new heroes for the future, he said.
The academy received tremendous response when the registration was opened, with more than 200 children taking part in the activities of the Family Open Day programme in November. Registrants were made up of 17% Qatari children and there were a total of 25 nationalities represented among all the children. However, the academy had to prune the number to 71 in the first season.
LCSC vice-president and general manager Khalid al-Remaihi was pleased with the response. 'LCSC has made great efforts in co-operation with Aspire Academy in order to bring this huge project to light and make it a reality on the ground, he said.
Al-Remaihi noted that the initial plan was to have 30-40 children in the first year but they had to enrol more children thanks to the large turnout, which he pointed out has led to increase in number of trainers and training days. 'We have added more trainers to the academy's repertoire. We had a difficult job to choose from 200 children, and we have selected the best ones among them to make it 71 for the pilot batch, the LCSC vice-president said.
'The club will provide the best of experts, trainers and academics in motorsport with QMA's Motorcycling head and former MotoGP and WorldSBK rider Jose Luis Cardoso leading the training process, he added.
Qatar Motor and Motorcycle Federation Abdul Rahman al-Mannai said the academy will play an important role in providing many young children with the opportunity to learn and develop in sport.
He expected the academy to develop significantly in the coming period to become a regional centre in the region.
QMA's Motorcycling head Jose Luis Cardoso was excited to see the desire of young riders for the sport. 'I am very happy to see many kids at the beginning of our Academy, said Cardoso. 'It has been a few months of hard work, enthusiasm and desire to see our goals fulfilled. The participation of our riders has been incredible and I am sure that we will enjoy passing our experience on to the kids.
Qatari rider Saeed al-Sulaiti, one of the QMA coaches, said: 'I'm very happy because we've been waiting for an academy like this for a long time. Having partners like Dorna and Aspire is a guarantee for all of us and this great project. I did not expect to have so much demand from the beginning so I am very happy about it.
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