850 sailors compete as 10th Senyar Festival gets underway

Doha, Qatar: Activities of 10th edition of the Senyar Festival, organised by the Cultural Village Foundation, Katara, began yesterday. It will continu...

Doha, Qatar: Activities of 10th edition of the Senyar Festival, organised by the Cultural Village Foundation, Katara, began yesterday. It will continue until May 4.

The opening ceremony was held at Old Doha Port at 4:30am where 69 traditional dhows carrying 850 captains and sailors set sail, including 82 from the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, and 80 from Qatar, heading towards Al Bandar, designated for the Hadaq and Al Laffah competitions in Sealine area.

The 2024 Senyar Festival is sponsored by the Social and Sport Contribution Fund (DAAM), along with many entities and companies contributing to the festival.

Jihad Al Jaida, head of the jury at the festival, said, “The Senyar 2024 was characterised by smoothness and ease after it faced some challenges represented by emergency and unusual climatic conditions, as the traditional bearings participating in the Haddaq and Laffah tournaments started after the heavy rains stopped and the strong winds calmed down.” He added that teams participating in Senyar have begun to engage in their competitions in Sealine area in an exciting atmosphere of fair competition, pointing out that the times allocated for hunting during the days of the competition are between 4:30am and 6pm. He said the Al Qaffal celebration, which will be held on Saturday, May 4, 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, as the first team will receive QR1m; second-placed QR500,000; and third-placed team will receive QR300,000.

Meanwhile, the team with the highest catch of fish will receive QR50,000 prize; second-placed team QR30,000; and third-placed team, QR 20,000.