The Qatar Lacrosse Association (QLA) becomes the 10th member from Asia, following on from China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Chinese Taipei and Thailand.

The QLA was founded in 2015 by David Heywood, a British expatriate, with Jamal Nasser Sultan Al-Bader joining as a director later that year.

Both men worked on creating a strategic plan to grow the sport in the gulf nation.

“Our vision of uniting a proud sporting Qatar sees us active alongside educational, sport and community groups delivering lacrosse,” said Heywood.

“Our view is that by doing so we can enhance the experience of studying, working and living in Qatar.

“The QLA received a lot of support from the FIL Development Committee, and we now look forward to broadening our community reach.”

Development efforts have been claimed to focus on youth development, with assertions that the sport is growing quickly in the nation.

The QLA state lacrosse is capturing the interest of education, sport and community groups, with the organisation having developed a reach-out campaign to expand its network and seek out potential players and advocates.

In October last year, the QLA was awarded a full equipment grant by the FIL to help facilitate pilot programmes with education, sport, and community-based hosts.

“We are truly overjoyed to be a member of FIL,” said al-Bader.

“FIL recognition and acceptance into the global lacrosse community is an honour.

“The opportunity presented to us will fuel our efforts with local and national government bodies to further the sport’s growth in a sustainable way for the people of Qatar.”