Paris,  France: Qatar and two other Asian countries on Sunday were presented with AFC Coaching Convention Awards. China and Japan were the other two countries to receive the awards from Shaikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa, the AFC President. said the awards were handed over to Qatar, China and Japan to recognise the progress of the coaching standards in these countries. The AFC Coaching Convention Pro Level Certificates were presented to Saoud A. Aziz M A Al-Mohannadi , the Vice President of the Qatar Football Assciation (QFA), H.E. Du Zhaocai, the Acting President of the Chinese FA, and Kohzo Tashima, the President of the Japan FA. AFC Technical Director Andy Roxburgh said in a post on www.the-afc.com: “These awards show the progress of the three Member Associations in coaching and they are setting the standards across Asia. I am sure that others will now follow their lead. “These are the first MAs who have been endorsed at the Pro Level – the highest level that can be attained and they have set the benchmark for the other 33 MAs who are already in the process. “When an equivalent award was introduced in Europe some years ago, four of the first six went on to win the FIFA World Cup and one was runners-up. So, this shows the importance of the awards – they are a vital ingredient in the development of coaching in the AFC Member Associations."