By Sanaullah Ataullah
DOHA: A T20 cricket match will be held between Pakistan and Qatar at the Asian Town Cricket Stadium as part of National Day celebrations on December 18.
Star Pakistani cricketers and their national team members will be representing Pakistan in the match which will be held in the evening and entry will be free.
Salman Butt, Kamran Akmal, Adnan Akmal, Fuwad Alam, Aizaz Cheema, Thofeeq Umer, Rana Naveed, Ehsan Adil, Mohammed Asif, Saeed Ajmal and Imran Farhat will be part of the Pakistani team.
The Qatari national team will include players, namely, Iqbal Chawdhory, Sarjeel Khan, Nazer Jamshed, Rahil Ali, Shahbaz Malik, Taimoor, Kamran Khan, Azim Ali, Saad Naseem, Mohammed Rislan, Irshad Umer, Sunet, Shereef and Firoz.
The Ministry of Interior and the Qatar National Day Celebrations’ Organising Committee has lined up several other events on December 17 and 18, to be held in collaboration with expatriate communities, companies and schools.
This was announced by Brigadier Abdullah Khalifa Al Muftah, Director of Public Relations Department of the Interior Ministry, at a press conference here yesterday. It was attended by Captain Nasser al Suwaidi, Vice-Chairman of QND Celebrations’ Security Committee, and Muhammad bin Ajyan, Chairman of IbinAjayan Trading Group, along with Asian expatriate community leaders, school representatives and media persons.
Indian and Sri Lankan communities will be holding cultural programmes in the Industrial Area at the Asian Town amphitheatre.
This venue will host art competitions and cultural shows staged by students of MES Indian School, Pak Shama, Stafford Sri Lankan School, Birla Public School, Doha Modern Indian School and Bright Future School. The events will start at 4pm on December 17, a Thursday, and will go on until 8pm.
The programme will restart the following day, December 18, at 8am and will continue until 10pm with breaks for prayers and lunch.
The Asian Town amphitheatre will witness a ‘Qawwali’ programme on December, 17 from 8pm to 12pm. The programme will be presented by Sabri brothers from Rajasthan, India. This event is being sponsored by Satco International Group.
The events of Pakistani and Bangladeshi communities, with students of PEC School, Bangladesh School, Bhavan’s Public School, TNG, DPS MIS and Noble International Schools will be hosted at Wakra Sports Club Indoor Stadium.
The Wakra open stadium will host a wide variety of cultural fiesta by famous artistes from Lahore and Peshawar. Khalid Malik, Waheed Achakzai, Nelo, Afshan Zaibi, Hina Asif, Wafa Afghanistan, Rahim Master, Hani Albela, Saleem Albela, Omar Gul and Khalida Yasmin are among the performers from Pakistan.
The Filipino, Indonesian and Malaysian community teams will perform at Al Rayyan Sports club Indoor Stadium along with the students of the Philippine School Doha, Philippine International School Qatar, Ideal Indian School, Shantiniketan School and Scholars International School, where they will be showing their talents in cultural and musical programmes. The events will start at 8 am on December 18 and will continue until 10 pm.
The Barwa Workers Recreation Complex in Al Khor will host the traditional, cultural and folklore shows and art competitions of Nepalese expatriates. The two-day events will start on December 17 at 4 pm and last until 10 pm and will continue on Friday from 8 am to 10 pm with breaks for prayer and lunch.
The cultural fiesta at each of the four venues will start with the Qatar National Anthem at 8am followed by a colourful parade by all participating schools , community and company teams in each venue.
Along with cultural events, different sports championships will be held between communities, company and school teams at the four venues. Asian Town, Al Wakra Sports Club, Al Rayyan Sports Club, Barwa Recreation Complex in Al Khor will host football championship, tug of war competition and running race.
Besides, Al Khor Barwa Recreation Complex will host cricket, volleyball and basketball championships while Al Rayyan Sports Club will host basketball as well.
The participating schools and the community teams will be competing in different cultural activities, including Qatar National Day parade, thematic show and thematic song in addition to sports items, whereas the winners in first, second and third places will be awarded cash prizes in all arts and sports competitions at the four venues. The overall champions from school, community and company teams will be awarded special trophies.
The Peninsula
