The participants at the tournament.
DOHA: The Indonesian Ambassador to Qatar, Air Marshal (Retd) Muhammad Basri Sidehabi, recently held a badminton tournament for its community.
The tournament entitled “Our Work, Achievement of the Nation”, was organised by the Indonesian Embassy in collaboration with the Organization of Indonesian community in Qatar (Permiqa) led by Prihandoko.
The competition is to commemorate the 73rd Indonesian Independence Day which is celebrated annually on August 17. The event involves diaspora community in order to give opportunity to the people of Indonesia who live in Qatar to jointly enliven the celebration of Independence Anniversary of Indonesia.
The participants of the tournament come from representatives in various cities in Qatar such as Doha, Dukhan, Al Khor, Mesaieed and Wakrah.
In the closing ceremony, the envoy conveyed his congratulations to the winners of the tournament. He added that this is also as part of sports activity to promote a healthy lifestyle for its community. He urges the players to not see the game only about victory, but mostly about strengthening friendship and fraternity among communities.
The winners of the tournament in the men’s double of Garuda category which are mostly participated by more professional player are, Doni and Latif Saifudin who won the first place. The second winner was Abang Sahlan and Saiful Uddin. While the third place was Tono Gustana and Sigit all are from Messaid city. While in the amateur of Red and White categories, the first winner is Nuryulad and Budi Setiawan. The second was Abdullah and Nabil Arrayan while the third, are Safiun and Boy Dharmawan. All the winner received trophies, medals and presents provided by the envoy.
The envoy said that the tournament is not only to promote the 18th Asian Games, which will be held in Jakarta and Palembang in Indonesia from August 18 to September 2, 2018, but also as part of Indonesian community’s continuous support to Qatar’s preparation for the FIFA 2022 World Cup.
The envoy appreciated the Qatar government’s support for the implementation of Asian Games 2018. He added that on August 9, 2018, Qatar Airways contributed $6m to the implementation of Asian Games.
The agreement has been signed between Qatar’s Ambassador to Indonesia, H E Ahmed bin Jassim Al Hamar, and President of the Indonesia Asian Games Organizing Committee (INASGOC), Erick Thohir. The signing ceremony was witnessed by the Indonesian Vice President, Yusuf Kalla.
According to the head of organising committee, Muchamad Yusuf, besides holding a badminton tournament, the celebration which will take place throughout the summer holidays, will also include table tennis, bowling and several other traditional games.
He added that the tournament is as a part of sport diplomacy in Qatar as well as providing an opportunity for Indonesian community to promote the positive image of Indonesia in Qatar and to enhance the bilateral relation between two countries.
