By Joseph Varghese

Staff Reporter

Thousands of residents gathered at West End Park yesterday to witness the cultural gala and cricket carnival organised by the Ministry of Interior in collaboration with various community schools and organisations on the occasion of Qatar National Day.

The visitors included people from all walks of life, including women and children, from various parts of the country. They also included thousands of labourers staying in the Industrial Area, who enjoyed the musical shows, dances, skits and other programmes, along with cricket.

The cultural programmes held at the amphitheatre were mainly performed by students of selected community schools as well as by elder members of different communities.

The schools that participated in the cultural programmes at the venue were Ideal Indian School, Scholars International School, Pak Shamaa School and Sri Lankan School. Several cultural organisations from different communities also presented a number of programmes at the day-long event.

The programmes got off to a colourful start at 8am with a short opening ceremony. This was followed by a thematic parade by students of the four schools separately. There were also free raffle draws in between with attractive prizes.

The programmes included a number of dances by students, depicting various traditions of the countries as well as showcasing Qatari traditions. There were also songs in various languages highlighting Qatar’s progress and achievements over the years. The skits and dramas also linked to Qatar’s relations with these countries and the growing relationship between them.

The cricket tournament that was held on the adjoining ground at the same venue involved six teams representing Qatar, India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal. They played in two groups of three teams each and the best four teams entered the semi-finals. A large number of spectators could be seen right from the morning, cheering for their favourite teams.

Most of the cultural events were held as inter-school competitions. The winners of the competition in each category were honoured at the end of
the event.

Hamad Medical Corporation had arranged separate booths for blood donation as well as organ donation at the venue. An official of the organ donation centre said many people were coming forward to donate organs. “We had a slight disturbance with the system in the morning and could not get people registered. However, we started in the afternoon and a large number of people have already shown willingness to donate organs. It is about 100 people and we expect many more to register today.”

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