The Amiri Diwan announces February 13 as an official holiday to mark National Sports Day in Qatar.

The Amiri Diwan has declared February 13 as an official holiday in honour of National Sports Day.

An estimated 250 governmental and non-governmental entities are gearing up to participate in this year’s festivities.

With the enactment of the 2011 Amiri Resolution No. 80, since 2012, Qatar has celebrated National Sports Day on the second Tuesday of February every year.

The public holiday was established to raise awareness of the importance of sport and its role in the lives of individuals and communities.

The Resolution instructs that all relevant authorities — both within the public and private sectors — organise sports-related activities for all to enjoy.

On Wednesday, the National Sports Day Committee announced that the slogan for this year’s holiday will be “The Choice is Yours.”

The slogan is aimed at highlighting the importance of exercise and adopting a healthy lifestyle, Qatar’s Minister of Sports and Youth and head of the NSD Committee, Abdulrahman bin Musallam Al Dosari, detailed during a press conference.

The Qatar Sports for All Federation (QSFA) will be organising as many as 683 community sports events for the Qatari community to take part in, according to Qatar News Agency.

The event is also an opportunity for local health bodies, such as the Primary Health Care Corporation, to raise awareness of diseases that can affect one’s physical movement in the long run, such as diabetes.

A 2023 study from the medical school of Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar (WCM-Q) warned of an alarming increase in local cases of diabetes. 

The researchers said the rate is projected to go from 17.8% (37,179 persons) in 2023 to 29.5% (84,516 persons) by 2050 among adult Qataris aged 20-79 years. 

A total of 57.5% of the local diabetes cases are primarily caused by obesity, the study found. Data by the International Diabetes Federation, last updated in 2021, found that Qatar has a 16.4% prevalence of diabetes among adults, with 394,900 cases among the population.

The World Health Organization also recommends that adults aged 18 and above participate in 150-300 minutes of physical activity per week.