Cheers of “Namoos” (Your deserved reward) and mobile phone ringtones rang round the majlis as the outright winners of the Fazza Championship for Falconry Telwah were crowned to universal acclaim on Tuesday.
Organised and supervised by the Hamdan Bin Mohammed Heritage Center (HHC), yesterday’s finals day saw Sheikhs and the general public compete in two sub-categories – “Farkh” and “Jernaas” – across 10 separate showdowns apiece, ranging from “Jeer Tibha” and “Pure Jeer” to “Shaheen Wahsh” and “Qarmoosha.”
A distinct lull in the noise levels descended on the majlis while all of the falcons were in full flight, but that pensive silence was swiftly broken by calls and congratulations once a clear victor had emerged from the fray.
Mohammed Abdullah bin Dalmook, Director of Corporate Support at HHC commented: “The attendance is high and I’m really happy that, when the falcon is flying through the air, everybody is quiet and waiting for the result. That means that it’s grasping the attention of all of the audience in the majlis.”
“This has been the best edition of this championship we’ve ever staged in terms of showcasing better falcons and better falconers, who have more experience. Very few of these falconers are first-timers and almost all of them are professionals now.”
Souad Ibrahim Darwish, Director of Championships at HHC, said: “We’ve reached a very high level with the championship this year in all aspects – the registration procedure, the falcons and falconers and the attendance figures, which were higher than in 2015. We’ve also managed to reinforce our national identity in the process. The most important thing about this whole event is to portray our intangible culture and heritage.”
Hamad Buhelaiba, who prevailed in one of the two Qarmoosha Farkh classifications, explained: “It feels very good when you win. The most important thing for me is when people say to you: ‘Well done’ and it’s not about the car or the prizes in my eyes. My friends are phoning me up from their homes or workplaces right now and it’s a really nice feeling.”
Hussain Lootah, 27, emerged triumphant from one of the dozen Jeer falcon categories. He stated: “It’s a very good feeling to have won a competition like this. This is the second tournament we’ve won this year with a Jeer falcon, so it’s all going well. These falcons are actually bred on my farm here in the UAE. We’ve seen them develop and grow from day one until now. I’ve been a falconer since I was a kid and probably from when I was about four years old. It runs in the family and they will, of course, be very proud of this achievement.”
Renowned falconer Khalifa bin Mejren failed to join the likes of Buhelaiba and Lootah on the top step of the podium, but there were seemingly mitigating circumstances for his below-par performance overall.
He admitted: “It’s been quite a tough day in the field. It has been a hard year and we came here just to do what we can. We got lucky with some first places and I got second.”
The tournament concludes today (Wednesday) with the Airplane Championship for the general public. It was originally scheduled to take place on Monday alongside its equivalent Sheikh contest, but it had to be put back after the qualifying round proved a washout earlier this month.
