Abu Dhabi: The second edition of the Abu Dhabi Sports Festival (ADSC) will take place in July, instead of during Ramadan, it was announced at a briefing by the Abu Dhabi Sports Council yesterday.
The festival, held under the theme ‘Stay active and healthy’, gets underway on July 8 and ends on August 31, stretching across 55 days. The change in dates is aimed at ensuring increased participation.
“The festival will have the usual elements but this year the difference is that the event will not be held during Ramadan but after that,” said Mubarak Al Ameri, chairman of the organising committee of the ADSC.
“There are a lot of programmes during Ramadan so we did not want the festival to clash with those events. The fees to take part [are] also nominal, so we are confident the response will be better than last year.”
The festival will be held at the Abu Dhabi Exhibition Centre (Adnec) and will feature 15 disciplines — including football, volleyball, basketball, table tennis, badminton, crossfit — for men, women and youth.
Al Ameri said they had witnessed an excellent response during first edition of the festival and were looking forward to the same this year.
“The response last year was fabulous as we had people coming in large numbers,” Al Ameri said. “The main reason we are doing this event again is because of the interest we saw last year from families and youngsters.”
Al Ameri added that community development and promoting a healthy lifestyle were the main objectives of the council.
“We want families to let their children be a part of this festival, instead of them playing video games at home. Most of them will be back after the summer holidays and this being indoors everyone can participate without worrying about the weather,” he said.
Al Ameri revealed that they might also hold some competitions if there are clubs willing to lend their support.
“We are still in the process of creating different programmes for the children. There are no competitions planned yet but we are in discussion with the clubs, and the festival is open if the clubs want to host some competitive tournament,” revealed Al Ameri.
