Staff Reporter
 |
| Omar Alfardan celebrating the day with members of his family |
The programme of events started in the early morning with a 3km mini-marathon on the boardwalk of The Pearl-Qatar, which saw men and women of different ages and nationalities taking part in the charity run.This was followed by a number of sports competitions, with staff taking on each other at basketball, cricket and football during the day of activities at Al Ahli stadium.
The final event of the day, the staff versus management football match, provided a fitting finale to the celebration, with Ali Alfardan starring for the management in a 4-0 victory.
Ali was then joined by Omar Alfardan as they presented medals and trophies to the winning players and team members.“National Sports Day is an initiative adopted by HH Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, Heir Apparent of the State of Qatar, which aims to encourage people to enjoy sport, while also raising awareness on the importance of physical health,” said a spokesperson for Al Fardan Group.
 |
| Alfardan family members and officials with the successful Prestige basketball team |
Many members of staff expressed their pleasure at getting the opportunity to meet employees from other Al Fardan Group companies, and also said that they were delighted to meet many of their colleagues’ families for the first time.
“This is a very nice event organised by Al Fardan and I hope that they do this every year,” said one attendee, adding “it has been really great bringing together all the families.”
Another member of the group said: “This has been amazing and I really like seeing all the cooperation of everybody here – it is really like one big family.”
Gulf Times spoke to the competition winners to discuss their thoughts on the day and their performance in the inaugural Al Fardan National Sports Day celebrations.
Hem Sunar from Nepal, who won the men’s mini-marathon with a time of 13 minutes and 30 seconds said that he had enjoyed the day’s events and was surprised to win the competition as it was his first time running in any sort of race.
The Al Fardan Properties employee, who has only been working in Doha for the past six months, said that he was really impressed with the day and had enjoyed the opportunity to meet a lot of new people.
The women’s mini-marathon was won by Kempinski employee, Verna Aranez from the Philippines, who explained that this was also her first competitive race event, having crossing the finishing line in 20 minutes.
She said that she was not aware that she had won the race, but described her feelings as “really great” when she was informed of her victory.
 |
|
Ali Alfardan in action during the match, which his team won 4-0 |
The basketball tournament was won by the Prestige team, who defeated the Al Gassar Resort team in the final.
“We are so happy and so amazed with the wonderful activities which have been organised for today,” said star player, Verrando Lopez, who explained “without this Sports Day event we would not have all got together for this competition.”
He also highlighted the role of the team’s coach in their victory.“We are really grateful to Al Fardan Group for this day, and we look forward to the next one,” he added.
The day’s cricket final saw the Al Fardan Properties team emerge victorious, and captain Shahbaz Ahmed told Gulf Times: “Today has been an excellent day and everyone has really enjoyed it.”
“You can see the excitement of the people which is amazing, and it is all because of the efforts of the Al Fardan Group, so we are very thankful,” he added.
As well as the competitions, the day involved a number of activities for children, creating a fun-filled family atmosphere throughout.