The games will witness the participation of female athletes for the first time since its emancipation.
The third edition of the GCC Games will begin on Monday at the Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Shooting Complex in Kuwait.
Around 173 athletes from Team Qatar have finished their training sessions and will be competing in all the categories in the games except for both futsal and ice hockey.
There are around 1,700 participants from six GCC countries that will compete in 16 different sports, including handball, volleyball, basketball, futsal, swimming, athletics, shooting, karate, judo, tennis, cycling, ice hockey, table tennis, padel, and e-sports.
This year’s edition of the GCC Olympic Games comes bearing many firsts for the tournament, with the most important one being that this is the first time that female athletes will be able to compete in the Olympics.
Women’s competitions in e-sports, athletics, and cycling will be included in the Games for the first time.
Additionally, men’s and women’s table tennis, women’s 3×3 basketball, and women’s football have also all been added to this year’s event.
Qatar’s volleyball, handball, and athletics teams, as well some of the country’s most talented athletes like fencer Haya Diab, Tokyo Olympics rower Tala Abujbara, and paddler Abdul Wahab will compete in cycling, aiming for podium places for each of their categories.
The GCC Games were first held in Bahrain in 2011 and then in Saudi Arabia in 2015.
The Supreme Organising Committee in Kuwait has already allocated twelve facilities in the country to host the games, including: the headquarters of the Kuwait Olympic Committee, the Crown Plaza Hotel, the Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammed Aquariums Complex, Sheikh Abdullah Al-Jaber Al-Sabah Hall, Ahmed Al-Rashdan Track and Field, Sheikh Jaber Al-Abdullah International Tennis Complex, and Mayadin Complex Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Olympic Shooting, Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah Bridge, Kuwait Aquatic Club, Sheikh Saad Al-Abdullah Al-Sabah Halls, Yarmouk Sports Club, and Kuwait Sports Club.
