The traditional Japanese martial art – Kendo has attracted many people to the Doha Kendo Club’s event held during Aspire Zone Foundation’s (AZF) National Sport Day.
It is among the several martial arts featured at Aspire, which attracted more than 30,000 visitors.
“Properly trained, Kendo can offer discipline, harmony, and respect for one’s self and his or her opponent…Kendo is open to everyone and we would like to have more people to join in, which is why do conduct many demonstrations as much as we can,” says al-Mohannadi told Gulf Times on the sidelines of the event for “gulf-times”.
“It’s now our second time to join the NSD celebrations in Aspire, which has fresh air, as well as a nice and comfortable atmosphere,” he pointed out.
“Going forward, we want to join the European Kendo Championships, as well as the Worldwide Kendo Championships…we are a club but with more work, we can transform ourselves into a national team in the future.”
Beware of the old man with the stick he may know how to handle it #kendo #kamei pic.twitter.com/WZotxOqmzF
— Harald F. Gerl (@Harald_F_Gerl) February 17, 2019
“We would also like play a role in the growth of martial arts in Qatar and hopefully in the future, we would like to see ourselves as part of a government body so that Kendo would get official recognition,” al-Mohannadi says.
“Since it started, NSD has provided the perfect opportunity to offer different types of activity in Qatar, such as Rugby, US Football, Japanese Kendo, and Russian self-defense martial art Sambo. During the NSD, Aspire Zone will combine sports from the East and West in an opportunity to explore cultures and sports from across the world.”
