Qatar hosts ‘Camel Beauty Contest’ with fervour alongside FIFA World Cup
Several eligible camels participated in the Qatar Camel Mzayen Club’s beauty festival held in Ash-Shahaniyah, an event hosted with same zeal as FIFA WC.
This time, no Botox was involved but dozens of camels, sculpted to perfection, with pouty lips and their necks long and slender arrived in Qatar, the Mideast country hosting the FIFA World Cup tournament, that launched a camel beauty contest with fervour and zeal.
A huge crowd arrived at the isolated desert venue in Land Cruisers and Jeeps, cheering for the gracious camels, particularly the winner Mangiah Ghufran, who won one million riyals ($275,000) top prize in the competition. Ghufran, the poised camel, stood in the desert flaunting its win of the camel beauty contest medal.
To win, the camels must stand out in beauty. They must trudge with grace, have an appealing posture and flaunt a long and slim neck, and perfectly broad cheek. On behalf of the winner, the camel breeder accepted the trophy in the ceremony.
Qatar paraded the finest camels in front of the spectators hosting the beauty pageant for them alongside the ongoing FIFA world cup. The Qatar Camel Festival kick-started late Tuesday with hundreds of multicultural and diverse ethnicity audiences. Several eligible camels participated in the Qatar Camel Mzayen Club’s beauty festival held in Ash-Shahaniyah, an event that was hosted with the same enthusiasm as the football World Cup.
Participant camels from different Gulf nations
As they stood elegantly, chewing peacefully, the participant camels from different Gulf nations were judged based on various factors including the weight, size of the body, complexion, body mass, head size, and location of the ears, among many other factors pertaining to their appearance. But this time, a medical committee was called to inspect if the participant camels had undergone any cosmetic surgery, in which case, they would be disqualified.
More than 40 camels were disqualified from a Saudi Arabian beauty pageant in 2021 for allegedly using Botox injections and other cosmetic physical modifications prior to the competition.
Ahead of the competition, the female camels were milked and the one producing the most was rewarded 20,000 Qatari riyals (about $5,500) and declared the winner. The camels that won bronze and gold award was bred by a Saudi Arabian named Mohanna Ibrahim Al Anazi. Last year, an estimated 40,000 camels participated in the Camel Beuty Festival held at Al Dhafra in the Liwa desert in the UAE. Owners of the camels travelled from Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Qatar with their camels travelled to the UAE’s southwestern desert.
