12th Al-Galayel Tournament for Traditional Hunting 2023 kicks off on Jan 30

The 12th Al-Galayel Tournament for Traditional Hunting 2023 will kick off on Jan 30, 2023 with the participation of 23 teams that are competing to win the tournament, which will be held in Laariq Nature Reserve until Feb 24.

Al-Galayel Tournament for Traditional Hunting is considered one of the most important and exciting tournaments that reflects the sniper's skill in the inherited traditional hunting, which is known in Arab and Qatari culture in particular.

In a statement to Qatar News Agency, Chairman of the Organising Committee of Al-Galayel Tournament for Traditional Hunting 2023 Khalid bin Mohammed Al Maadeed, stated that this year's tournament is sponsored by the Social & Sport Contribution Fund (Daam) with the participation of 23 teams distributed into 5 groups, where the start of the tournament will be on Monday, Jan 30, with the first group while the competitions of the second group will begin on Friday, Feb 3.

Al Maadeed added that the third group will start its competitions on Tuesday, Feb 7 and the fourth group will join it on Feb 11, and the teams will compete next day, while the fifth group will compete on Feb 15, noting that the competitions of each group last for 4 days. All the leading teams of each of the five groups will participate in the qualified group in the tournament final, which will continue until Feb 24, where the winners will be crowned in the final of the tournament.

Chairman of the Organising Committee of Al-Galayel Tournament for Traditional Hunting explained that the tournament, which is annually sponsored by the General Organisation of the Cultural Village (Katara), is in continuous development in order to achieve its objectives in promoting the heritage of falconry and hunting.

He added that Al-Galayel attracts new teams annually, and even new members in the teams, which contributes to achieving the tournament's goal of spreading and preserving this heritage sport.

He indicated that the new edition emphasises the professionalism of the snipers in Qatar, as the history of the tournament which has been established for 12 years now reflects the extent of the Qatari snipers ability to adventure, pointing out that the members of the Organising Committee and the supporting committees are working hard to present the tournament in a manner that befits the name and reputation of Al-Galayel and its long history among the sniper tournaments. He noted that the participating teams have become aware of the organising laws, and therefore the laws that were established in the previous edition of the tournament will continue to enhance the professionalism of the tournament.

For his part, Vice-Chairman of the Organising Committee of Al-Galayel Tournament for Traditional Hunting, Executive Director of the tournament Mohammed bin Nahar Al Nuaimi, affirmed in a similar statement to QNA that the organising committees of Al-Galayel are fully prepared for the launch of the tournament, in all technical, administrative, financial and media aspects, adding that the organising committees are working to provide all the requirements for the success of the tournament, in cooperation with the various concerned authorities.

It is noteworthy that the first-place team will receive a cash prize of QR one million. The second place winner will get QR 700,000, while the third place will win QR 500,000. An amount of QR 10,000 is also awarded to each member of a team that qualified for the final of the tournament, as well as a reward of QR 5 thousand for each participating member of a team that did not qualify for the final.

Al Shaqab team had won the Al-Galayel tournament in its previous edition.