The spade ultimatum!
I earlier messaged in the forum about Qatar's Talal Mansour calling a spade a spade. He was talking about Qatar's import of Kenyan long distance athletes. Read about it here.
http://www.qatarliving.com/node/678302
The same magazine whose link I posted has now done a followup story. Qatar has given an ultimatum to its foreign athletes to perform or get out. Sensational stuff. I hope they now start taking running for Qatar more 'seriously'.
Here's the story and the link.
FINAL CALL!
The Qatar Association of Athletics Federation issues ultimatums to the naturalised athletes to prove themselves or give way to promising local talents, writes Aju George Chris.
THE brazen naturalisation of African athletes has left Qatar at the receiving end, with the International Association of Athletics Federations and the world media criticising it heavily.
Qatar's policy of 'importing' athletes, which began after the 2002 Busan Asian Games, has failed miserably. The latest fiasco came at the recent World Championships in Berlin, where the nine-member squad could yield just a bronze medal.
The sad turn of events has rattled the Qatar Association of Athletics Federation (QAAF) while legends like Talal Mansoor accused 10,000M runner Nicholas Kemboi of being a pacemaker for his former Kenyan team-mates at the Worlds.
The QAAF has taken stock of the situation. Keen to purge itself of the past mistakes, it has issued ultimatums to its African runners, including 3,000M steeplechase world record holder Saif Saaeed Shaheen, to perform or perish.
"We blindly trusted the African athletes. They now have the choice to prove themselves and remain with us or run on their own. Unless they soon show results, they risk being offloaded from the national team. We've conveyed this to all our athletes. Shaheen has been given time till the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games to make a winning return," said QAAF President Abdullah Ahmad Al Zaini.
Qatar's fascination with African athletes affected the development of a strong second string and set the country back by several years. The QAAF chief admitted it.
"In the recent past, our focus was on the senior team and we neglected our junior and youth development programmes. The circumstances have changed and the spotlight is now on youngsters. Our aim is to help a few athletes qualify for the 2012 London Olympics and win some medals at the 2016 Games," said Al Zaini.
It is a win-win situation. While the naturalised athletes will be made more accountable, the QAAF's decision will inspire young Qatari talent. It could very well be the start of a new era for the sport in the country.
http://dohastadiumplus.com/content/view/2486/67/
Another detailed interview with the Qatar assocaition of athletics federation president is here:
Money can buy everything...except patriotism
You are right. My bad. I had meant to say 'ultimatum to perform or get out of the national team'.
Thanks for pointing it out.
"Qatar has given an ultimatum to its foreign athletes to perform or get out." get out of the national team squad. not of streaping off their nationality. the latter would be against the human rights. u can't take away the citizenship of a man if he has no other nationality or no where to go.
Besides, they r not foreigners! they r qatari as much as every qatari. they have the nationality, they r qataris. calling them foreigners will then be considered segregation or racism!
Oh, people can come up with statistics to prove anything, Kent. 14% of people know that.