Qatari marine federation agrees cup deal

HE Sheikh Hassan bin Jabor Al-Thani has reached an agreement with John Carbonell, founder and president of Super Boat International (SBI), and confirmed at a press reception at Cocoa Beach in Florida today (Saturday) that the Qatar Marine Sports Federation (QMSF) will host the new, ground-breaking Qatar Cup in January 2014. The two parties have agreed the deal for the finest powerboat racers in the increasingly popular Super Boat International series to race in Qatar. "I am delighted to announce that I have reached this exciting agreement with John Carbonell and we have agreed this exciting new co-operation between the QMSF and SBI," enthused the president of the QMSF. "Two of the key factors in the decision-making process were the strength in depth of SBI and the solid calendar that is in place for the 2013 racing season. This is just another example of the increased co-operation between Qatar and the USA in world power boat racing. We have discussed the format of the Qatar Cup that we will run in Qatar in January and we will host boats racing in several of the top classes." Discussions on the finer details of the exciting new powerboat racing series are ongoing, but Sheikh Hassan confirmed that prize money spread across the respective categories is set to be in the region of $400,000. The QMSF will take care of shipping all the boats to Qatar after the Key West World Championships in November. This is a championship that Sheikh Hassan is determined to defend this year – and one where he previously earned the coveted Golden Eagle Award given to a crew that displays the highest level of professionalism during race week. "We believe this is a great opportunity for SBI to showcase the strength of its international sanctioning power along with giving teams access to lucrative purses," enthused Carbonell. "Various Superboat classes will each have a $100,000 purse and teams will benefit from the QMSF shipping the race boats to Qatar after Key West. We are excited to be able to work alongside Sheikh Hassan in Qatar and we are also looking forward to his commitment to our race series this year. His loyalty to SBI is unprecedented with commitments to campaign two offshore powerboats, his 50' Mystic in the Turbine class and his re-powered 44' MTI in the Superboat class." Sheikh Hassan is currently in Florida with the Spirit of Qatar Team.  Mohammed Al-Nasser and Ali Al-Neama will represent the Doha-based outfit in the Superboat 750 class at tomorrow’s (Sunday) Space Coast Super Boat Grand Prix at Cocoa Beach. Sheikh Hassan and Steve Curtis are set to join the championship in the Turbine class at the next round at Orange Beach at the start of June. Source: Qatar Olympic Committee