DOHA: The activities of the tenth edition of the Senyar Festival, organised by the Cultural VillageFoundation (Katara), began on Thursday.
The activities of the first day witnessed the holding of a ceremony in the old port of Doha, where 69 traditional loaders carrying 850 nawkhathas and sailors, including 82 from Gulf Cooperation Council countries and 80 residents of the country, sailed towards Al Bandar designated for the Hadaq and Al-Fahah competitions in the Sealine area.
The 2024 Senyar Festival is sponsored by the Social and Sports Activities Support Fund (Daam), along with many entities and companies contributing to the festival.
Jihad Al-Jaidah, head of the jury at the Senyar Festival, pointed out that “the Senyar 2024 was characterized by smoothness and ease after it faced some challenges represented by the unusual and emergency climatic conditions, as the traditional bearings participating in the Al-Haddak and Al-Laffah tournaments set off after the rain stopped and the winds calmed.”
He said that the participating teams began to engage in their competitions in the Sealine Reserve in an exciting atmosphere of competition, pointing out that the times allocated for hunting during the days of the competition are between 4.30 in the morning and 6 in the evening.
He added that the Al Qaffal celebration, which will be held on Saturday, at Katara Beach, will witness the announcement of the winning teams in the competition, in order to maintain the atmosphere of enthusiasm and competition among the participating teams. The first-place winning team will receive QR1mn, while the second-place winner will receive QR500,000, while the third-place winner gets QR300,000 riyals, in addition to QR100,000 riyals allocated for the largest fish award, where the first-place winner gets QR50,000, QR30,000 for the second-place winner, and QR20,000 for the third-place winner.
Al-Jaida explained that the participating teams and winners of the first fifteen places in the Senyar competitions will qualify to participate in the “Belmassan” tournament for four days which will have its own conditions, rules and prizes.
It is noteworthy that the Senyar Festival 2024 allowed four people from the Gulf Cooperation Council countries and residents of the country to join each of the participating teams, whose number of members ranges between 8 and 12.It also allowed two children to be accompanied within each team between the ages of ten and fourteen, in order to consolidate sea habits in the hearts of children and teenagers.
