Doha

The winners of various competitions held as part of Katara’s fifth Traditional Dhow Festival were announced at the event’s closing ceremony on Saturday.
The ceremony took place in the presence of Dr Khalid bin Ibrahim al-Sulaiti, general manager of Katara – the Cultural Village Foundation.
The five-day event began on November 17 and was attended by a large number of people. It also marked the return of the Fath Al Khair 2 dhow from its voyage to India.
In the diving competition, the Omani team of Sur grabbed the first prize of QR300,000 and a dhow, while the Bahraini team of Fath Al Kheir ranked second with QR200,000. The third prize of QR100,000 went to the Omani team of Shukhra.
In the sailing category, ship captains Fahad al-Addasani, Abdullah al-Muhannadi and Khalid al-Mannai were honoured for finishing first (QR50,000), second (QR30,000) and third (QR20,000), respectively.
The winner of Al Haddaq was Ibrahim Khamis al-Bader, with QR20,000, while Saleh al-Khamis al-Bader ranked second with QR15,000 and Jassim Mohamed al-Bader third with QR10,000.
In the Al Ghazal contest, the Al Thukhairah youth team was announced the winners with QR30.000. The Abu Khalifah team finished second with QR20,000 while Dubail was third with QR15,000.
In the Al Gargour competition, Saleh al-Auraimi was ranked first with QR20,000, followed by Abdulaziz al-Kubaisi with QR15,000 and Saed al-Buainin with QR10,000.
The Al Areesh team won the Al Khatfaha competition with a prize money of QR20,000, while Al Wakrah came second with QR15,000 and Im al-Houl third with QR10,000.
The winners in the rowing competition were the Oman team with a prize of QR50,000, Al Thukhairah team with QR30,000 and Shnaf team with QR20,000.
Addressing the ceremony, Dr al-Sulaiti said: “The Fath Al Khair 2 voyage 2 India made the fifth Katara Traditional Dhow Festival a spectacular event. Also, the visit of HH the Father Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani has had a positive and great impact, one that we are proud of and which continuously motivates us to perform better.”
He thanked Qatar Petroleum, diamond sponsor of the festival; Nakilat, golden sponsor of Fath Al Khair 2; Qatar TV, media sponsor; Qatar Museums and the workshop that prepared Fath Al Khair for the trip to India.
The highlights of the festival included the gold and pearl market on the Katara esplanade even as Katara took the opportunity to showcase traditional dhows.