22 Apr 2018 – 9:17
By Raynald C Rivera | The Peninsula
DOHA: The seventh Senyar Festival, the longest edition of the traditional pearl diving and fishing competition, organised annually by Katara Cultural Village, concluded on a high note yesterday with a spectacular Al Gaffal ceremony at Katara beach.
A large number of people thronged the traditional ceremony, whose highlight was the awarding of winners of Lafah traditional fishing championship, the last category of the competitions at this year’s exciting festival.
With a stunning haul totaling 199.8kg of fish, Al Falah team was declared first place winner taking home QR400,000.
It was followed by Al Areeq catching a total of 192.4kg of fish and bagging QR300,000. In third place was Khor Al Udaid taking home QR200,000 with 186.4kg catch, in addition to QR100,000 more for winning the biggest fish competition after catching a monster kingfish weighing 30.8kg.
Katara General Manager, Dr Khalid bin Ibrahim Al Sulaiti, awards the Al Falah team, first place winners of this year’s Lafah traditional fishing championship, at the conclusion of the seventh Senyar Festival at Katara beach yesterday.
Twenty-seven teams competed at Lafah traditional fishing championship.
Yesterday also saw the very first traditional fishing competition for families which saw a number of Qatari and expatriate families take part. The first three winners were Senyar, Tamim Al Majd and Al Barouth which were awarded QR10,000; QR8,000 and QR7,000 respectively.
Katara General Manager Dr. Khalid bin Ibrahim Al Sulaiti handed the awards to the winners at yesterday’s closing ceremony.
Aimed mainly at reviving Qatar’s rich maritime heritage, the festival witnessed more than 1,000 participants in three categories namely traditional pearl diving competition, and Hadaq and Laffah traditional fishing championships.
The traditional pearl diving competition, which kicked off the festival, was an thrilling competition among 165 pearl divers aboard 15 dhows spending two days and nights in the middle of the sea.
Sixty-four teams comprising a total of 832 people set sail in wooden boats for the Hadaq traditional fishing championship, the second part of the festival’s championships.
Compared to the first six editions which would usually take place for a week, this year’s festival extended for nearly three weeks, running from April 4 to 21.
The organisers have expressed appreciation of the huge response from the participants including Qataris and expatriates as well as those from other GCC countries including Oman and Kuwait.
