An awards ceremony held at the conclusion of the 3rd Dhow Festival at Katara beach yesterday turned out to be a big draw.
The most beautiful dhow award was given to “Fat-halrahman”, made in 1980 in Oman and owned by Abdulnasser bin Mubarak bin Ali al-Farissi. The dhow fetched a prize of QR100,000.
In the rowing competition, the “Shannace 2” team won the first prize (QR60,000), while “Seniar” came second (QR50,000), “Shannace 1” third (QR40,000) and the “Al Khor” team fourth.
In the sail boat competition, Ghanim al-Muraykhi won the first prize of QR50,000. The second prize (QR30,000) went to Abdulla al-Khulaifi while Khalid al-Adasani came third (QR20,000).
In the pearl diving event, the Saudi team won QR50,000 for collecting the largest number of oysters while the UAE team won QR20,000 for collecting the largest number of pearls.
Meanwhile, Ahmed al-Hatmi, head of the organising committee of the festival, said the event has received great support from senior officials in the country as it revives the marine heritage of the region and introduces it to the new generations.
He pointed out that the festival was successful in attracting a large number of people interested in the marine heritage of Qatar and the region, indicating that the number of visitors and participants increased significantly year on year.
“The festival has seen a greater variety of traditional dhows from Qatar, GCC countries, India and Zanzibar, amounting to 22 different types of famous traditional ones,” he explained.
Preliminary statistics indicate that around 800 school students visited the festival in two days and about 500,000 visitors attended the event throughout its duration, highlighting its success.