Camel pageant among World Cup sidelines attractions
Like all good pageant contestants, Nazaa’a displayed not only dazzling beauty but also poise and grace.
She batted her eyelashes and flashed a toothy smile for the television cameras at the Mzayen World Cup, a pageant held in the Qatari desert about 15 miles (25 kilometres) away from Doha and soccer’s World Cup. Nazaa’a, mind you, is a camel.
Think Westminster Dog Show crossed with the Miss America Pageant, except for, well, camels. Nazaa’a is a majestic light-haired creature that overcame several preliminary rounds and hundreds of other camels to win the pageant at Qatar Camel Mzayen Club on Friday.
The event, which was designed to bring cultural awareness to World Cup visitors, was sponsored by the Ministry of Sports and Youth, in conjunction with the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy, the local World Cup organizing committee.
Nazaa’a was one of 15 camels who competed for the crown, parading by fans while wearing bejewelled collars and draped with strings of gemstones.
“I thought our camel was better than Ronaldo and Messi,” joked Jassim al Kuwari, part of the family that owns Nazaa’a. These events are held regularly throughout the Middle East. “This is our culture. This is from a long time ago, from our fathers and grandfathers,” Al Kuwari said.
“Today is a competition, a beauty competition. We like these camels. We give them names. It’s like a family.”
