7 April 2015 - For the third year in a row, the ASEAN Committee in Doha (ACD) successfully held its Family Day at the Barzan Olympic Park on April 04.

The following were the games participated in by personnel of resident ASEAN Embassies in Doha and their dependents: tug of war, bakiak (clog) race, and sack race (for adults); musical chairs, tennis ball throwing, and cat and mouse (for children); egg and spoon race (both for adults and children); and golf-putting (for Heads of Missions and their spouses).

In his welcome remarks, Indonesian Ambassador and ACD Chairperson Deddy Saiful Hadi expressed his eagerness for incoming Philippine Ambassador to Qatar Wilfredo C. Santos to assume his duty as this will be the third time that they will be counterparts. “Ambassador Santos has a habit of following me around in his tours of duty. We were both assigned in Kuwait, followed by our stints in San Francisco, and now here in Qatar,” Ambassador Hadi said in jest.

Instead of dividing the teams according to embassy/country, all participants were distributed among the four teams named after the colors of ASEAN – blue, red, yellow, and white – to foster camaraderie, teamwork and sportsmanship regardless of nationality.

The Red Team won first place, Blue Team second place, while the Yellow and White Teams tied for third place. The Vietnamese Ambassador and his wife, meanwhile, won the golf-putting competition.

Mr. Mahrous Hassan Saady Daloul, Manager of the Barzan Olympic Park, also joined during the closing ceremony where he expressed appreciation for ACD’s continued patronage. He also gave tokens of appreciation to the Heads of Missions.

The ACD is currently comprised of the Embassies of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. END