Damac to host first ever Ramadan Sports Festival at Akoya

Gulf Today, Staff Reporter

Supporting the spirit of togetherness and community that Ramadan represents, Damac Properties is set to host its first-ever Ramadan Sports Festival, from April 18 to May 7 at its Akoya community.

The three-week long festival will feature various sports competitions, including a duathlon and marathon in coordination with Hopasports, as well as a football and basketball tournament organised by Champs UAE, headed by Lebanese basketball star Fadi El Khatib. Additionally, there will be a mini-Olympics organised for children.

All games and races will be conducted in line with government-mandated health and safety protocols. The majority of the sporting activities will take place in the serene AKOYA community, with some games being held at Damac Hills.

The competitions are scheduled to be held at 9 PM every day and are open to the general public. Winners and runner-ups will receive cash prizes and trophies.

Ali Sajwani, General Manager at Damac said: “On the heels of our successful cyclethon event held in March, we decided to keep the momentum and positive energy going by holding a Ramadan Sports Festival. As a company, DAMAC has always stressed the importance of health and fitness for our employees and going forward we would like to facilitate events for the health and fitness of the greater public.”

In the football and basketball competitions, winning teams will receive a cash prize of Dhs15,000. Best individual players for both sports will receive Dhs3,000.

For the duathlon, male and female winners will receive a cash prize of Dhs4,000 each, with separate categories for Emiratis (male and female).

In the 10km Running Challenge, male and female winners will receive a cash prize of Dhs4,000 each, with separate categories for Emiratis (men and women).

For the 5km Running Challenge, male and female winners will receive a cash prize of Dhs2,500, with separate categories for Emiratis (men and women).

Runners up will also receive cash prizes of varying amounts, as well as participation trophies.

Damac recently held its first-ever cyclethon event, the Tour De DAMAC, at the Akoya community, in which close to 500 cycling professionals participated. In the event, Vladimir Gusev and Kim De Baat won the 60km race for adults in the men and women’s category, while Ali Jassim and Safiya Al Sayegh won in the Emirati men and women category.

Damac has also been a regular participant of the Dubai Fitness Challenge.

 “As our Akoya community is fast developing and maturing, we are excited to be able to host sporting events there to showcase all the facilities and amenities that the community has to offer,” Sajwani added.