Doha
31 May 2017 -

With preparations now complete, Aspire Zone Foundation is ready to welcome over 1,300 participants to take part in the two-week Ramadan Sports Festival. The festival will kick off on Thursday evening, marking the start of four simultaneous sporting tournaments: indoor hockey, cricket, volleyball and futsal.

Cricket competition heats up Aspire Zone’s outdoor warm-up track

The three-day cricket tournament will start at 9:30 pm on Thursday, June 1st on Aspire Zone’s warm-up track and will run until Saturday, June 3rd. The tournament will feature two groups of five teams, competing head to head in group stages, before moving ahead to the knock-out stages.

Aspire Dome houses the indoor hockey, futsal and volleyball tournaments

Meanwhile, Aspire Dome’s multi-purpose halls will house the men’s futsal tournament until June 7th, featuring twelve teams across four groups. The indoor hockey tournament, featuring eight teams, will run until June 8th.

Separately, the men’s five-day volleyball tournament will be held in the Dome’s Volleyball Hall until June 07th, featuring eight teams of nine players each.

‘Walk in the Dome’ Ramadan activity

Aspire Zone Foundation and its member organisation, Aspetar, are organising the ‘Walk in the Dome’ Ramadan activity to engage the residents of Qatar, as part of their "Step into Health" programme. The event encourages people to join their friends and family for a walk around Aspire Dome’s cool and spacious indoor pitches, from 3:00 pm until 5:30 pm before Iftar, and from 8:30 pm until 11:30 pm after Iftar.

Participants will be provided with pedometers to count the number of steps taken inside the Dome. Valuable prizes will be awarded to those who take the most steps by the end of the month.

‘Healthy Ramadan with Aspetar Experts’ initiative

Aspetar, the orthopaedic and sports medicine hospital in Qatar has also launched the ‘Healthy Ramadan with Aspetar Experts’ campaign for professional and recreational athletes.

Running throughout Ramadan, Aspetar’s multi-disciplinary team of experts will offer guidance for people fasting on a range of topics captured in short videos. These include diet, sleep patterns and optimal exercise times, as well as the importance of scheduling medication doses to avoid complications. This is especially important for people with diabetes.

Aspetar produces a wide range of videos designed to encourage people to be active and healthy year-round, featuring topics such as useful exercises and common diseases related to sedentary lifestyles.

This initiative, as well as the Ramadan Sports Festival, are examples of the annual Ramadan activities organised by Aspire Zone Foundation and its member organisations – Aspire Academy, Aspetar and Aspire Logistics, to encourage people to stay active, maintain a healthy lifestyle and spend quality time with friends and family throughout Ramadan.