Dubai: A Saudi photography competition topped the social networking platform Twitter on Monday with users divided into two teams, one supporting Saudi young man Abu Qaht, and the other supporting his female compatriot Marzouqa.
A few hours after the announcement, the competition became a global contest.
With the intensity of the competition between the image of Abu Qaht, which is a picture of a jug of coffee and a burning fire, and Marzouqa’s picture of a mirror, a great problem emerged, which represented a severe blow to Marzouqa.
And it turned out that Marzouqa’s photo is not from her photography, but rather a picture of one of her friends, who sent to her, and while the vote was close, Marzouqa was excluded, so Abu Qaht would be unique with 40,000 likes for his picture.
But the surprise was with a return with Marzouqa’s new photo of iced coffee, announcing her desire to compete with this photo she had taken herself.
And then participants, including artists and activists on Twitter, started intensively promoting Marzouqa’s image until she surpassed Abu Qaht’s photo.
The fierce competition, which attracted Arab celebrities and captured the world’s attention, concluded with Marzouqa’s image wining the challenge after receiving more than 1.3 million likes, while the picture of Abu Qaht received 800,000 likes.
Challenge between a man and a woman
Also, the issue seems to have become a war between genders. Males were voting for Abu Qaht whereas females are voting for Marzouqa. People are defending their ‘team’.
The most beautiful picture contest turned into a challenge between a man and a woman, young men began to promote the image of Abu Qaht, until it becomes like a snowball that grows in rolling, and it comes to young celebrities such as football players and artists, who started to support the image that they all represent, in the Twitter struggle, in front of the girls.
Among the celebrities who interacted with “Marzouqa” and “Abu Qaht” were Lebanese singers Elisa and Haifa Wehbe, Emirati artists Balqis and Ahlam, Lebanese actress Nadine Nassib Njeim, Spanish football player Cesc Fabregas and his Lebanese wife Danielle Samaan, Egyptian actor Mohamed Heneidy, and the Arabic official account of Manchester City.
In its reaction to the contest, the official account of the International Federation of Football (FIFA) and the Italian Juventus club interacted with the marking “Abu Qaht” against Marzouqa on the social networking site during a large vote in which thousands participated, in addition to the interaction of many celebrities, including Egyptian artist Mohamed Heneidy.
Meanwhile, Emirati broadcaster Faris Awad said: “Al Giza’s game is simple and what it deserves, but the issue is out of context and the football community loves Rimontada, support it with like this picture.”
