BIKER BROTHERS!

SURGEONS by profession, twin brothers Dr Mohammed Al Kuwari and Dr Abdulaziz are not only passionate cyclists, but also keen on promoting a healthy lifestyle through the sport. 

Mohammed, who was recently elected as president of the Qatar Cycling Federation (QCF), is a bariatric specialist at the Al Emadi Hospital while Qatar Cyclists (QC) Director Abdulaziz is a spine expert at the Hamad Medical Corporation in Doha.

“During my studies in Dublin (Ireland), I noticed that people were so passionate about cycling. It’s not only a healthy thing, but a great exercise. I then discussed with my brother about introducing cycling as a part of the lifestyle in Qatar. That’s how QC’s journey started in 2014,” Abdulaziz told Doha Stadium Plus.

Under his leadership, QC organised several amateur competitions, including last year’s Heart of Qatar, which went a long way in popularising the sport as nationals showed big interest to take part in the 97km event from the Camel Race Tracks at Al Shahaniya to Dukhan and back.

“The idea is to bring everyone into cycling. It’s not just a sport. Hosting competitions will further encourage a lot of people to take up cycling and thereby promote a healthy lifestyle,” added Abdulaziz, who graduated from the Royal College of Surgeons and also completed Spine Fellowship from the University of Western Ontario in Canada.

QC will organise the more gruelling Al Adaid Desert Challenge on March 3.

“We started organising this challenging and exciting ride last year. Besides, our cyclists participate in charity rides while we’ve also started ‘Women on Wheels’ programme at the Losail International Circuit to encourage lady riders,” he added.

Mohammed said an organised league could help the sport grow big in Qatar.

“We’ve already kick-started our journey with the Doha Triathlon last month. I want to see cycling competing with football. It can become a popular sport in future. We want to approach Al Sadd, Al Rayyan and other clubs to have their teams for a local event. We’ve the Royal Air Maroc League, but we’ll make the triathlon bigger,” he said. 

The brothers know it will not be easy to attract Qatari youngsters to the sport, but they exuded confidence. 

“It’s definitely a big problem attracting Qatari youth to any sport for that matter, but things will gradually improve. When I see the number of cyclists at Losail, I’ve no reason to lose hope,” added Mohammed.