The event brought smiles and camaraderie all round making the special occasion a great fun day out.

The fun-packed day began bright and early at Doha’s Al Jazeera Academy, offering a wide range of sporting activities, including football, basketball, tennis, cricket and volleyball.

Participants were able to choose from a variety of games on offer at Al Jazeera Academy’s excellent sporting facilities.
 
The programme also included races and zumba dance classes for children and mums, indoor playground area for children, together with a cafeteria offering snacks and refreshments.

The face painting and henna stations proved extremely popular for children and women.

Special t-shirts and caps featuring the Qatar Airways and National Sports Day logos were distributed to all participants.

The team activities saw competition at its fiercest as airline group employees showed their sporting skills on the field and on court.

The day’s activities came to a close with trophies presented to winning teams. An additional incentive saw an array of raffle prizes on offer donated by local organisations.

Qatar Airways Chief Executive Officer Akbar Al Baker said the airline was delighted with the strong turnout that showed a commitment to supporting the state’s vision promoting sports and healthy living among citizens and expatriates living in Qatar.

“This year, the response from our staff was bigger and better than last year’s celebrations,” he said.

“We see this annual event as a great opportunity for us to bring together our employees and their families for a fun day out. It was a pleasure to see so much team spirit and enthusiasm of our employees. We want them to stay in good health not only for their physical and mental well-being, but also for everyone as a healthy society is what we all strive for.”

National Sports Day is celebrated every second Tuesday of February and is an initiative adopted by the Heir Apparent His Highness Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.  The annual event demonstrates Qatar's desire and dedication to building healthy communities as it also gears up to host the much anticipated 2022 FIFA World Cup.

Qatar Airways has a rich history of lending its full support to sporting events in Doha and overseas, being named the Official Airline of key tournaments in the country’s sporting calendar. These include the men’s and women’s tennis, the Qatar ExxonMobil Open and Qatar Total Open respectively, as well as cycling and golf – the Tour of Qatar and the Qatar Masters – all of which have taken place in the first two months of the year, with many others upcoming.

Qatar Airways, one of the world’s fastest growing airlines, has seen rapid growth in just 16 years of operations, currently flying a modern fleet of 119 aircraft to 124 key business and leisure destinations across Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific and The Americas.

Over the next few weeks, Qatar Airways will launch services to a diverse portfolio of new routes, including Phnom Penh, Cambodia (February 20); Chengdu, China (March 19); Chicago, USA (April 10); and Salalah, Oman (May 22) with many more new start-ups planned.