Information Minister Dr Abdulmunim bin Mansour al Hassani has underscored the significance of the Sultanate's hosting the Beach Handball World Championships. He said the event is of great importance to the country in general and to the sports media sector in particular. The minister lauded the local mass media’s coverage of the international event and vowed to listen to the views of workers in the field of media to help eliminate any challenges and represent Oman in a better way in future, since the country is planning to host more championships.

The minister welcomed the exchange of more proposals for developing the content, services and facilities of sports in a bid to promote the sports media and the status of the Sultanate in an international milieu. The minister made the statement during a press conference upon his visit to the Sports City here yesterday.

The press conference was attended by Rashad bin Ahmed al Hinai, Under-Secretary of the Sports Affairs Ministry and Dr Hassan Mustafa, President of the International Handball Federation, as well as members of the organising committee of the Beach World Handball Championships. Dr Al Hasani said the event is an important experience for the sports media in the Sultanate. He explained that his visit was aimed at getting a close look at the efforts made by the Sport Affairs Ministry and media personnel to properly cover the event.

Dr Al Hasani added, “We should prepare well in all aspects to ensure good organisation of the Beach World Handball Championships. The competition is very important to us as Omani media personnel as it provides us with an opportunity to interact with media personnel from Arab and non-Arab countries. We wish we have proper space as media personnel to showcase our country properly.” He also pointed out that upon his day-to-day follow up of print, audio, visual and e-media, he could see that good coverage has been made of the event. “This is very clear from the many news, sport analysts and reports,” he added.