Seventh Schools Olympic Programme Starts September 25

Doha, May 26 (QNA) - The seventh edition of the Schools Olympic Programme (SOP) will be held here September 25, organisers have announced. The sports events of SOP will begin on September 30 and the closing ceremony of girls events will be held April 3, 2014 while boys competitions will conclude April 4, 2014, the Organising Committee has said, according to a Qatar Olympic Committee notification. The Organising Committee will meet with teachers of participating schools on June 19 to brief them about the registration procedures for the seventh edition. The registration period for team sports will start on June 19 and will be concluded on September 19. The registration for individual sports will open 45 days prior to each event and will close one week prior to the beginning of each event. The draw for boys and girls events will be held September 22. Earlier this month, the Qatar Olympic Committee and the SOP Organising Committee announced that they would organise the seventh edition of SOP under the theme 'Sports and Integrity'. The SOP event are being organised in cooperation with QOC's permanent partners, the Supreme Education Council, Qatar School Sport Association, Qatar Paralympic Committee beside the International Centre for Sport Security as strategic partner for this edition. The QOC and The SOP Organizing Committee also revealed that shooting event is enlisted to SOP as a new game. This addition increases the number of SOP sport events 11. The other sports are volleyball, basketball, football, handball, athletics, tennis, gymnastics, swimming, fencing and table tennis. The sixth edition of SOP saw the participation of 22,000 students. (QNA)