Qatar Cricket Association (QCA) and the Ministry of Interior (MoI) have teamed up to mount a memorable celebration of the Qatar National Day at the Asian Town Cricket Stadium on December 18.
The Association, with the support of the Qatar Olympic Committee (QOC), will host a Twenty20 cricket match between Asian stars and Qatar national team players, QCA president Yousef Jeham al-Kuwari said yesterday.
During a press conference yesterday, attended by MoI Public Relations Officer Lt Hamad Ali al-Jahweel, al-Kuwari said, “The Qatar National Day is a very significant event for all of us in Qatar. We wish to contribute to its massive success like the previous years with a T20 match between Asian Stars (International) and Qatar stars.
“This match, of course, would have not been possible without the support of QOC president HE Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad al-Thani, QOC secretary-general Jassim Rashid al-Buenain and the Ministry of Interior. We extend our deepest gratitude to them for extending their backing and co-operation in organising this match at the Asian Town Stadium,” he added.
Al-Kuwari stressed that cricket is one of the most popular sports in Qatar and played by a huge number of people from Asian sub-continent communities here. “We love and respect all those who are living here. So this is our social responsibility to host sporting activities to involve them,” he said.
“We’ve already launched a social media campaign to reach out to cricket fans. We’re delighted to say that we have already received about 50,000 likes and hits mostly from the members of the communities of India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal.
“The feature of the Asian stars team is that we tried to include players from many countries like Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Sri Lanka. We hope that a large number of fans will turn up at the venue to support the match and make the Qatar National Day celebrations an event to cherish for a long time,” the QCA president said.
For his part, al-Marri said, “It is our big pleasure to join hands with the QCA for this big cricket match to celebrate the Qatar National Day. The ministry appreciates the efforts such as this one to involve various communities, co-operate with the QCA at every level and we wish the event a big success.”
Also present during the press conference were MoI Community Reachout Co-ordinator Faisal al-Hudawi, QCA Operations manager Manzoor Ahmad and QCA Domestic Cricket head Gul Khan Jadoun.
Ahmad said the QCA has made elaborate arrangements to engage the crowd during the match with a variety of dance and musical performances. All the players have confirmed their participation and we’re anticipating a thrilling match on the big occasion of the Qatar National Day.
Jadoun added that there is a separate seating arrangement for families and they can enter the stadium through Gate 7.

Asian Stars Team:
AFGHANISTAN: Asadullah Khan, Mohamed Yamin Ahmadzai; SRI LANKA: Ajantha Mendis, Asela Gunaratne; PAKISTAN: Umar Gul, Fawad Alam; BANGLADESH: Mohamed Elias, Mohamed Ashraful; NEPAL: Mahamad Hasim Ansari, Sanjam Regmi; INDIA: Venkatesh Prasad.
Qatar Team:
Inam-Ul Haq (captain), Tamoor Sajjad (vice-captain), Mohamed Rizlan, Faisal Khan, Malik Awais, Hafiz Tanveer, Hafiz Nadeem, M Noman, Imran Ashraf, Iqbal Chaudhary, Kamran Khan, Zaheeruddin, Gayan, Khurram Shahzad.  Reserve Players Qalendar, Dharmang, Naveed.


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