22 institutions to participate in GCC sports tournament
Atotal of 22 academic entities have confirmed their participation in the 9th edition of the GCC Sports Tournament for Universities and Higher Education Institutes, to be held from February 4-10, 2023 in Qatar. This was announced by the organising committee president Dr Maryam bint Hamad al-Mannai, vice-president of Student Affairs at Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU), the tournament host.
Three universities from Qatar have confirmed their participation including HBKU, Qatar University, and the University of Doha for Science and Technology. From across the region the other participants are: the United Arab Emirates University; 13 universities from Saudi Arabia - including King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals; the Islamic University of Madinah; Taif University; Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University; Taibah University; King Khalid University; King Abdulaziz University; King Faisal University; Qassim University; Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University; Jouf University; Jeddah University, Majmaah University and Saudi Electronic University - and Kuwait University and The Public Authority for Applied Education and Training in Kuwait, as well as Oman’s Sultan Qaboos University and the University of Technology and Applied Sciences.
Registration of universities in each game has been executed according to the interests of the participating entities. 12 universities registered to compete in padel and volleyball; 13 for football; 14 in swimming and table tennis and 18 universities will compete in athletics. The second phase of registration started on November 1 and will run until November 21. At this stage, the names of participants for each sport will be registered in addition to the accompanying delegations, limited to 50 persons per delegation in total.
In football, the number of players allowed per team will be a minimum of nine and a maximum of 18 players, in addition to a coach. In table tennis, between six and 12 are permitted, in addition to a coach. For swimming and athletics, there will be a minimum of four and a maximum of 16 participants, in addition to a coach. In padel and table tennis, between three and five players are allowed, in addition to a coach. The administrative delegation should include up to two administrators, in addition to a delegation head.
Commenting on the registration process, Dr al-Mannai said: “We are pleased with the great turnout of universities and higher educational institutes in the GCC countries to take part in the ninth edition of the tournament. The participating entities will compete in six games including padel, swimming, volleyball, table tennis, football, and athletics.”