World Mindsports winners being awarded their prize at the event.
Qatar’s successful hosting of the fourth World Mindsports Championships ended on a high note on Saturday with the awarding of this year’s world champions in the tournaments’ headline events.
The Championships’ first foray in the Middle East, organised by Mindsports Academy (MSA) and hosted by Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA), attracted over 1,000 players from 23 countries. Over the course of nine days of mind-bending competitions at the Doha Exhibition and Convention Center (DECC), contestants battled it for the crown title, special prizes and over $100,000 in prize money.
The title of Chess Rapid Champion went to Moldovan Grand Master Victor Bologan while Chess Youth Rapid winner was Ieyssa Bin- Suhayl from the UK. Champions in scrabble included Thilina Elvitigala (Scrabble Championship, Imadith Egodawatta (Scrabble Junior Championship), Abdelrahman Aboughanima (Arabic Scrabble Championship), and Telfick Aboughanima (Arabic Scrabble Junior Championship). For eSports, the winners were Mohamed Al Yazidi (FIFA) and Team VC Blue (Call of Duty).
Winning Bridge events were Firyal Wahab and Muhammad P Akhtar (Bridge Mixed Pairs), Abdullah Chaaban and Jehad Al Hajj (Bridge Team 1-day Friendly), and Abdul Shaheid and Mehmoud A Fattah (Bridge Pairs).
Dave Brannan, CEO of MSA, said, “It was an amazingly successful event. Bringing it to Qatar was certainly the right choice as the venue is undoubtedly the best we have ever been in anywhere in the world. Qatar is friendly and welcoming and the city exciting, vibrant and full of interest. We have brought the world together to compete and make new friends and we look forward to returning soon as Qatar has won our hearts and exercised our minds.”
Rashed Al Qurese, Chief Marketing and Promotion Officer at QTA, remarked, “We are proud to have hosted the international mindsports community to experience first-hand Qatar’s authentic tourism offering.”
He added, “Sports tourism is a priority subsector for Qatar and this championship has given QTA the opportunity to demonstrate the sector’s growth potential while forging new partnerships both locally and internationally.”
To further grow Qatar’s sports tourism sub-sector, Qatar Olympic Committee (QOC) is supporting the expansion of the range of sports events held in Qatar. QTA partnered with QOC to cross promote the emerging e-sports scene in Qatar. In addition to the e-sports competitions which took place at the Mindsports Championships, QOC organised a FIFA e-Sports Community Event on Saturday.
The 4th Mindsports World Championships partners included Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development, Aspire Zone Foundation, Ooreedoo, Alfardan Automobiles, Adabisc, Strike and Kiddy Zone.
The event was made possible thanks also to collaboration with the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy, Qatar Bridge Association, Qatar Chess Federation, Mall of Qatar, Marriot Marquis Hotel and DECC.
