UPDATED: Where to go and what to do for Qatar National Sport Day 2017
The sixth annual Qatar National Sport Day (NSD) will take place on Tuesday, Feb. 14.
Held on the second Tuesday of February every year, the public holiday urges residents to adopt more active and healthy lifestyles.
This year, government ministries, private companies and everyone in between are holding lots of fun activities across the country.
Here’s our guide to what’s going on where:
Weather
Notably, it might be soggy holiday. According to the Qatar Meteorology Department (MET), potential rain and thunderstorms are forecast for Tuesday.
While it’s still too early know what will happen, residents may want to plan to dress warmly and bring umbrellas if they will be outdoors on Tuesday.
MIA Park
Ooredoo is hosting NSD activities at the park for the public from 8am to 5pm.
It hasn’t detailed what’s on offer yet, but in the past there were fitness classes for all ages and levels, including Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, a walking group, gladiator joust, circuit training, football and kayaking.
The Pearl-Qatar
UDC, the company that owns and operates The Pearl-Qatar, has announced a raft of activities for NSD.
Running from 7:30am to 2pm on Feb. 14 in the Porto Arabia area, activities on offer include a Walkathon, Yoga, Aerobics and a host of fun games for kids.
The Aspire Zone
Doha’s Aspire Zone has served as a focal point during previous Sport Days, and this year is no exception.
Highlights include:
An annual 3km fun run that will take place from 8am to 9:30am on NSD. Registration will be open from 6am to 7:45am on the day itself, opposite the Khalifa International Stadium VIP Entrance, near the Torch Hotel. Bring your QID or passport.
You will also be asked for an email address when registering, and must sign a legal waiver.
Sports on the outdoor pitches. From 9am to 3pm, this venue will host football, basketball, volleyball, calisthenics demonstrations, parachute games and movement with music.
Pitch 10 will be designated for young children to engage in fun activities like bouncy castles, obstacle courses, and football skills. Soft play areas for children under the age of two will also be available.
Women-only activities. The Aspire Dome will host sports activities specifically for ladies from 10am to 1pm. This will include gymnastics and basketball under the supervision of coaches from Aspire Academy’s Multi-Sport Skill Development program.
New sports. The Aspire team is bringing some new sports to Qatar this NSD, including “Nordic walking.” This activity apparently burns large numbers of calories and helps achieve total body fitness.
Coaches from the Aspetar hospital will demonstrate the sport to visitors above the age of 18 who are interested in trying it. Demonstrations will start from 11am in front of Aspetar’s West Wing.
Kendo demonstrations. These will be live in collaboration with the Japanese embassy in Doha. Kendo is one of Japan’s oldest martial arts and involves participants competing with bamboo swords. Visitors keen to try it will be able to do so starting at 9am on Pitch 10.
Indoor activities. Visitors will also be able to enjoy a wide range of indoor sports starting from 10am in the Aspire Dome. These include wall climbing, football and fitness and gym classes from the ASPIRE ACTIVE program.
For details of all activities available, see here.
Katara
The Katara Cultural Village will once again host a variety of NSD activities.
They are free and open to the public, and will run from 6am to 10pm on the beach front.
For residents over 50 years old, there will be a 1km jogging competition at 6am. It will begin at Gate 1 on Beach 3, and end near Sukar Pasha.
Registration is open between Feb. 11 to 13, via phone (4408 1421) and email (info@katara.net), or online (see here.)
Qatar University is also holding a series of sporting and fitness events at Katara on NSD. They will include:
- “Sports booths” presented by QU coaches, faculty members and students;
- A health booth and healthy nutrition corner;
- Beach soccer and beach volleyball championships;
- Physical fitness and sports training sessions;
- Sports activities for adults and kids; and
- A paragliding show performed by a team from the QU Air Sports Club.
Visitors will also be given the opportunity to get free body composition tests to assess their vital capacity, upper body strength, lower body power, core body muscular endurance and agility.
Qatar Foundation
The newly-opened Oxygen Park at Education City will host QF’s NSD festivities.
Open to the public from 9am to 4pm, the park will be transformed into an arena for “The Game of Games” contest.
The event, which is open to students and staff at schools within Education City, will pit teams against each other in five areas — strength, balance, concentration, strategy, and enthusiasm.
It’s not all about physical challenges, though. Entrants will apparently have to solve cryptic clues, crack codes and even compose their own anthem.
If you’d like to take part, you can register here.
Meet Qatar’s Olympians
The Qatar Olympic Committee has announced that a number of Qatar’s Olympic stars will be joining the festivities.
Here’s where you can find them on Sport Day:
- Qatar Olympic weightlifter Fares Ibrahim Elbakh will be at Katara at the Weightlifting Federation activity.
- Paralympic silver medallists Abdulrahman Abdelqader and Sara Masoud will be at the Qatar Paralympic Association to raise awareness about the opportunities to participate in para-sport.
- Qatar’s first-ever female Olympian, Nada Arakji, will be sharing her tips at Hamad Aquatic Centre.
- Rising athletics star and Ambassador from Doha’s successful bid to host the 2019 World Championships in Athletics, Dalal Al Ajmi, will be joining the kids’ athletics festival at Katara.
- Also at Katara will be captain of Qatar’s 2015 World Handball Championship silver medal winning team, Abdulrazzaq Murad and Kamal Mallash, who were also part of the team that reached the quarterfinals of last year’s Olympic Games.
Asian Town
The Asian Town complex near the Industrial Area will host a variety of different activities for NSD, including a cricket match, a volleyball tournament (for both men and women) and a tug of war.
The events will take place from 8am to 9pm and are open to everyone.
Al Khor
There are more than 15 different activities on offer for Al Khor residents on NSD, including a 5km family walkathon, kids’ cycling races, a football tournament and a kids’ fun village.
You can see details of all of the events, with timings and details of how to register, here.
Al Khor is also the venue for the corporate competition, the Hercules Trophy. If your business would like to take part, you should email info@herculestrophy.com asap.
Al Wakrah
The Al Wakrah Sports Club will host a Sports Fest on NSD that features a procession through town, running races, a tug of war and football matches.
Indian footballer Muhammad Rafi will be the guest of honor, and everyone’s invited.
Mall of Qatar
The newly-opened Mall of Qatar is getting in on the NSD act this year.
From 8am to 9pm, visitors are invited to take part at a host of different activities around the mall, including kids’ activities at KidzMondo and Cool de Sac, spinning and bootcamp with Anytime Fitness, as well as basketball, football and table tennis around the site.
There’s also a 1K & 3K Family Fun Run at 8am at the mall on Feb. 14, and the first 50 families to register will receive QR100 vouchers from Xtremeland. You can register here.
The first to finish the 3k run will win a one-year membership to Anytime Fitness, worth QR6,000.
Full details of all events at the mall on NSD can be found here.
Hotels
The Qatar Tourism Authority has partnered with 40 hotels for its #QatarInMotion campaign on Sports Day.
From Feb. 13 to Feb. 15, participating hotels are offering free access to gyms & complimentary fitness classes, as well as discounted memberships and room rates and “healthy” brunches.
See what’s on offer and who’s participating here.
Healthy food from the Philippines
The Philippines Embassy’s Kulinarya campaign is holding a family day and healthy food festival at the City Center Rotana hotel from 8am to 5pm on Feb. 14.
More than 15 Filipino food restaurants will be serving food at the event, and there will be displays from health and wellness programs, as well as fun activities for all the family.
Entrance is free.
What do you plan to do on NSD? Thoughts?
