Volleyball competition in progress.
Doha: Cultural Forum’s 3-day sports extravaganza, “Expats SportEv 2018” concluded on February 16 with a colourful ceremony dubbed as SportEv Fiesta at Qatar Sports Club, which was attended by senior Qatari government officials and drew thousands of community members.
Sports Association Kerala (SAK-Qatar) won the overall championship in the fiercely contested sports meet, with Youth Forum bagging the first runner-up position and Calicut Sports Club finishing as the second runner up. In the women’s category, Youth Forum won the overall championship, with SAK-Qatar and Calicut Sports Club winning the first and second runners-up positions respectively. Different individual championships were won by Nihal Abdul Rahim (SAK-Qatar), Kannan (Thrishur Youth Club), and Neenu Sreekanth (SAK-Qatar).
The massive sports event, which was participated by 16 community teams in 18 items under four categories, was held under the patronage of Qatar Sports for All (QSFA) Federation at the Ministry of Culture and Sports. The other venues of the event were Hamad Aquatic Centre at Aspire Zone and Al Sadd Sports Club.
Dr. Wafa Al Yazeedi, Chairperson, Qatar Rehabilitation Institute at Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC), Khalifa Ahmed Al Yafai, Assistant Executive Director Public Relations (Corporate Communications dept), HMC, Lt. Col. Hamad Muhammed Al Mohannadi, Head of Community Policing Affairs Section at Community Policing Dept, Ministry of Interior, Lt. Khalid Muhammed Kaboura, Officer Sports Halls, Qatar Police Sports Federation, Lt. Mubarak Shareeda Hayyi Ahmed Al Mutlaq, Public Relation Officer, Ministry of Interior, Yaseen Mahmoud, Head of Competitions at Qatar Basketball Federation, Aparna Roy, Kerala’s top school athlete and record holder in 100 metres hurdles in the national senior school athletics championship, Dr KT Ashraf, Managing Director, E3 Theme Parks, Wayanad, Faisal Kunnath, Director, Al Dana Switch Gear, Suijith Kumar, Team Leader – Sales at ISUZU Motors and Faisal Hudawi from the Ministry of Interior, attended the ceremony and presented trophies and mementos to the group and individual winners. Taj Aluva, President Cultural Forum, chaired the session.
In a bid to promote sports personalities and groups among the expatriates, the Cultural Forum Sports Excellence Awards were instituted for the first time. In the individuals category, the awards were won by well-known volleyball player Ashiq Ahmed, noted cricketer Jashmir Kasaragode, eminent hockey player Neethu Thampi, and former Indian national athletic champion Mohammed Shaheen. In the groups category, Vazhakkad Association Qatar (VAQ), Volleyball Loving Indians in Qatar (VOLIQ), Qatar Expats Cricket Community (QECC), Qatar Indian Association for Sports and Games (QIA), SAK-Qatar and ICA Alumni won the awards.
The best team manager’s trophy was won by Yasir of Pathanamthitta Sports Club, and the best disciplined team’s trophy was won by SKIA-Qatar.
The concluding ceremony featured traditional Arabic dances by children and a breath-taking martial arts performance by the Doha-based UMAI team. Radio Jockeys from Radio Malayalam 98.6 FM enthralled the audience with an interactive edutainment show.
