DOHA: More than 200 competitors will take part in the Dau event which kicks off today at Sabkhat Marmi in Mesaieed.
The Dau event is a competition in which a falcon is required to cross a distance of 400 metres towards its owner, who is signaling it to approach the finish line in the shortest time.
Jassem Al Hudaifi, head of the Dau organising committee, explained that the event will feature 242 competitors, subdivided into two groups. The event’s first round will be held today, while the second will be tomorrow, he added, noting that the ten best times of each day will qualify the falcons and their owners for the final round of the event.
Meanwhile, a group of students of the Qatar Society for the Rehabilitation of Special Needs paid a visit to the festival yesterday, following an invitation sent by the organisers. They toured the festival grounds, and were particularly interested in the Young Falconer and Hudud Al Tahaddi challenge events.
Ghaliad Al Dosari, who was supervising the group, said that the students’ visit to the heritage festival contributes a great deal toward developing their intellectual capacities, while increasing their social engagement.
For her part, Malika Mohammed Al Shraim; head of the festival’s Media, Marketing and PR committee; underlined the organisers’ efforts to include all of society’s groups in the festival, adding it falls within the aim of organisers to promote the country’s cultural heritage.
Yesterday’s results featured the qualification of Abdullah bin Khalid Al Shahwani and Jaber Ubaid Al Ghayathin Al Marri for the final round of the Hudud Al Tahaddi challenge, in addition to winning QR100,000. The Hudud al Tahaddi challenge is an event in which falcons seek to obstruct the flight of homing pigeons especially trained to fly away, and instead causing them to land.
The Peninsula
