The fan zone at Summer Entertainment City (SEC), which screens live the matches at the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia, is attracting a large number of residents and visitors since it opened on Friday.
“As soon as the matches begin you will see a lot of people moving there, it is a packed area and it is great to see that as well,” QSports founder and SEC project director Adil Ahmed told Gulf Times.
The SEC, organised by QSports as part of the Qatar Summer Festival (QSF) 2018, features an array of fun-filled activities and games, live entertainment and cultural shows, among others, spread over 29,000sqm of the space at the Doha Exhibition and Convention Centre.
“We want to bring the excitement of football to the City, something different for people to enjoy while they can practically have fun all day here,” Ahmed said. “SEC is the family favourite and it is the only place where you can have it all at once.”


The fan zone features a number of games for all ages


Indonesian ambassador Mohamed Basri Sidehabi with Indonesian performers at SEC



New games and activities at the City attract many visitors

Besides watching football, he noted that many people, especially families and children, also enjoy the various offerings such as the world’s largest bouncy castle, synthetic ice skating rink, bungee trampoline, skill games, virtual reality setup, amusement rides, and video games.
“One of the things we want to highlight this time is when people buy the gold pass, they should plan to spend four to five hours here because that‘s how long it will take for them to go around the whole place,” Ahmed stressed.
He said the SEC received about 1,800 visitors on Friday, the first day of Eid al-Fitr holidays, and he expects to increase substantially in the coming days.
“Today (June 16), we already surpassed 2,500 visitors at this stage, and we expect between 4,000 and 5,000 more,” Ahmed stressed, as he thanked the different embassies in the country who partnered with QSports in holding entertainment and cultural shows.
One of SEC’s highlights yesterday was a cultural performance by Indonesian children (in co-operation with the Indonesian community in Doha), which was attended by ambassador Mohamed Basri Sidehabi.
Speaking to Gulf Times, the envoy lauded QSF saying the festival provides an opportunity for expatriate communities to promote their culture and heritage in Qatar. 
“We hope to have more and bigger Indonesian cultural performances here in the future,” he said, citing that there are 43,000 Indonesian expatriates in Qatar, including 10,000 professionals. 
The SEC is also set to feature Kenyan performers in the coming days while Malaysian and Ethiopian performers, as well as Koreans, will take the centre stage in the coming weeks.

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