ASPIRE Acknowledges Excellence at the Artistic Gymnastics World Cup

Prestigious ASPIRE Rookie Awards presented by the Academy Wednesday September 30th 2009, Qatar: As the 2nd Artistic Gymnastics FIG World Cup came to a close at the ASPIRE Dome, the Doha-based sports Academy honored two of the events shining stars with ASPIRE Rookie Awards. Following three days of fantastic performances from 98 high-class gymnasts representing 24 different countries, representatives from ASPIRE selected Germany’s Anja Brinker and Finland’s Tomi Tuuha to be presented with the ASPIRE Rookie Awards. In keeping with ASPIRE’s mission to promote and encourage youth sport, the ASPIRE Rookie Award scheme acknowledges sporting excellence and recognizes the efforts of the individual. Laurent Joliat, ASPIRE Head of Marketing and Communications said: “It’s hard to pick just two gymnasts out of the sensational selection of athletes we had here at the ASPIRE Dome. Anja and Tomi both put in very impressive performances, there’s no doubt in my mind that they will go on to achieve great things in the future and be a huge source of inspiration for ASPIRE’s budding gymnasts. “It has been wonderful to see such incredible gymnastic talent making use of our facilities, I think the fans have enjoyed it too which is the most important thing. One of ASPIRE’s goals is ensuring that a healthy and active life permeates through-out Qatar and I think it’s hard not to feel compelled to do some kind of sporting activity after witnessing the gymnastic talent on display here.” ASPIRE Rookie Awards have so far been presented at the Doha Fencing Grand Prix 2009, the Qatar Table Tennis Grand Prix 2009, the Cycling Tour of Qatar men and women 2009 and IAAF Qatar Super Grand Prix 2009 (athletics). This year represents the second consecutive year that ASPIRE has played host to the event and with such incredible facilities all housed in one convenient location, ASPIRE makes the perfect location for this world-class gymnastics competition. The competition this year was made even more special for ASPIRE as one of the Academy’s former students Nasser Al-Hamad qualified for the finals of the Floor and Vault events. ASPIRE now looks forward to hosting the 3rd Artistic Gymnastics FIG World Cup in March 2010 (22nd – 24th).