Aspire Zone played host to an action packed weekend that boasted an assortment of events celebrating both sports and culture, and attracting thousands of people from across the country.
The weekend festivities kicked off on Thursday night with an evening dedicated to poetry. Organised by Aspire Zone Foundation, in collaboration with Dialogue Poets Council in Qatar, the event was in honour of World Poetry Day. Held at Aspire Park, enthralled audience members were treated to a spectacular display of traditional Arabic poetry, which was performed by eight local poets, and who presented a combination of measured poetry, prose and dialogue poetry.
Meshaal Al Marri, Chairman of the Board of Dialogue Poets Council in Qatar, said: “I would like to thank Aspire Zone Foundation for helping host this event. We hold this event annually and the purpose of it is to engage Qataris and raise awareness of this traditional form of expression. It is also designed to give local talent an opportunity to perform and the potential to be recognized around the region.”
On Friday evening, avid football fans gathered to watch the international football friendly match between Japan and Canada at Khalifa International Stadium. The Japanese team dominated possession of the ball throughout the match, defeating Canada 2-1.
Saturday saw Aspire’s popular Spring Aquathon at the precinct. In all, 92 participants signed up to compete in the modified course of the original Aquathon. The circuit, which featured a swim in the Aspire Dome pool and a run around Aspire Park, boasted three different distances for adults and children.
Ryan Christian won the open race for men with a time of 14:12, whilst Aoife Boyce was the fastest women with a time of 18:22. In the junior 2 category, Jacob Alkhulaifi was the fastest boy in 9:02, and Ruby Browne was the fastest girl in 9:49. Finally, Noah Alkhulaifi and Tara Swords were the winners of the junior 3 categories with respective times of 14:22 and 18:24,
Later, the second annual Doha Jam returned for an explosive edition, when 12 teams converged at Aspire Park at 4pm to go head-to-head in the ultimate three-on-three street basketball tournament.
The matches concluded with an intense final match between the “Heat” and “Sustainable Energy” teams. The Heat narrowly beat their opponents, taking home first place and becoming the 2013 champions. The third place was awarded to an Aspire team. Finally, the array of activities rounded off with a celebration of Earth Hour.
The Peninsula
