Young brigade eager to learn

DOHA: The oldest in the group is 21 years of age while the youngest is just 13 but for the Sbeitan siblings the opportunity to ride for Qatar’s first women’s cycling team is equally ‘thrilling’.
Teenagers Ramz Sbeitan (17), Salma Marey (16), Reem Sbeitan (13), Nermeen Ghounim (16), Rana Sbeitan (16) and Dana Othman Abuhejleh (16) were yesterday unveiled as members of Qatar’s new women’s cycling team. 
“I am excited to be part of this team,” Ramz said in fluent English. 
“Through cycling I can make friendships and compete at the top level,” she added. 
“I have been cycling since I was a child and when this opportunity came up, it excited me a great deal,” Ramz said. 
“Me and my sister were training at Aspire and someone told me about this opportunity and we liked the idea of joining the (Qatar) team,” Ramz said. 
“We already train twice a week,” sister Reem, 13, said. 
“We train at Losail Circuit and we enjoy it. We get support from everyone,” she added. 
“I am just so happy to do this. We will work hard,” she said.
Salma, 16, said she has set out to achieve goals in 
cycling.
“Actually I have aims. I will try as much as I can. I know it is a tough sport. I used to do this when I was a child,” Salma said. 
“When I was asked to go for this, I thought about it and decided to go for it. I will try to win medals. I know that when I have the chance to do something, I always go for it,” she 
added. 
Rana, also 16, said cycling would not come in the way of her studies. 
“Yes, studies and cycling could be tough but we have the support of our family and QCF (Qatar Cycling Federation),” Rana said. “I will make time for both,” she added. 
Ramz said the bunch was looking forward to watching riders at Tour of Qatar to be held in February next year. 
“We won’t be competing but we will be part of the group studying the riders from close quarters,” Ramz said. “We are not ready enough to join a competition but we will be ready soon,” she 
added. 
Sixteen-year-old Nermeen said: “We are starting at the right age. I think it will be good to have another women’s team in the Middle East (UAE is the other country). We have to be at our best. We are no 
different from others.”
Dana, 16, said: “They (QCF) just want us to work hard. They are not putting any pressure on us to start winning right away. They want us to do our best. And we want to do the best. They have asked us to do well. They keep motivating us.”
Dana added: “They keep saying our studies are important. They want us to keep looking at our future also. I would say competing at the 2016 Olympic Games would be one of our goals. We still have three years of practice and competitions.”
Qatar coach Pia Sundstedt from Finland said she was happy dealing with a young team. 
“I have a fantastic group,” Pia said. 
“They are all young. The youngest is 13. The oldest is 21. It is a good age to be doing all this,” she added. 
“I am very excited about it. The process started in March-April (2014). I got this group together a month ago and we have been training since then,” she added. 
“I have some good riders. They still have to learn about the sport. I am teaching them skills on how to ride at corners and how to break from a group etc. They show great interest in everything we do,” she said. 
“I am willing to take anyone who wants to join us. We are just starting out. Cycling is a hard sport but we have made a beginning,” Pia said. 
“My wish we could have more races for women in the GCC so that we all could build the sport further. That would be great. That would be amazing for these riders. The 13-year-old we have - if she (Reem) is willing to work hard you never know how far she can go,” Pia said.
“This group has amazing fun. That’s the fun part. I see the girls enjoying it,” Pia said. 
“We are setting up a blog and have a Twitter account so that we send out the message so people who want to follow our journey, they can do that,” Pia said.      THE PENINSULA