Dr Nibal Khalil at the Makomanai Indoor Skating Rink during the 2017 Asian Winter Games ©OCA

A leading official from the Palestine Olympic Committee (POC) visited Sapporo to look at proceedings during the Asian Winter Games and work on getting the country involved in future snow sport events.

Dr Nibal Khalil, the POC’s international relations unit director, attended the latest edition of the Games, which finished yesterday, to try and gain support for the committee’s ambitions of appearing in future events.

The country has never featured at an international winter multi-sport event, but Dr Khalil said the POC would like to do so and the trip to Japan was beneficial.

“It is important to come and to see the people involved here,” she said.

The 2017 Asian Winter Games came to a close yesterday in Sapporo ©Getty Images
The 2017 Asian Winter Games came to a close yesterday in Sapporo ©Getty Images

“In the future maybe we can build something for the Winter Games.

“Maybe in the future we can start to build an ice rink and have training for these kind of athletes.

“We need resources to build an ice rink and to train athletes.

“It takes years – but we really want to compete in the Asian Winter Games.”

Gulf nations including Iran, Qatar, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates took part in the 2017 Asian Winter Games.