Al-Talaa Championship Qualifying Rounds Kick Off At Marmi 2026

Doha, Qatar: The qualifying rounds of the Al-Talaa Championship, part of the 17th Qatar International Falconry and Hunting Festival (Marmi 2026), began on Friday, January 2, 2026.

The festival, held under the patronage of H E Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad Al Thani and supported by the Social and Sports Activities Support Fund“Daam,” is taking place at the Marmi Sabkha in Sealine and will continue until the 24th of this month.

Early in the morning, under ideal conditions with clear visibility, the Al-Talaa falconers entered the qualifying rounds in their championship, divided into groups 1 through 5. Four falconers qualified for the next rounds.

The four qualifiers were: Nawaf Nasser Al Shafi, Team Barzan (Saqran), and Team Al Majd.

The fourth group was a nail-biter, as each time a falcon from one of the participants took flight, it was disqualified for failing to spot the houbara bustard.

Then it was Team Barzan's turn. With only seconds remaining, they took flight just fractions of a second before the timer ran out and caught the houbara bustard in one of the biggest and most exciting surprises of the qualifiers.

The Barzan falcon took flight at 4 minutes, 59 seconds, and 55 hundredths of a second.

According to the tournament rules, if the first falcon takes flight and doesn't catch anything, the timer resets to five minutes. From the third falcon that also fails to catch anything, the timer restarts from the time it took flight.

Head of the Falconry Committee Ali bin Ayash Al Mansouri stated that the Falconry Championship is one of the important competitions that promotes the preservation of Qatari and international falconry traditions.

He explained that the rules of the championship are the same as those in the previous edition of the festival, with the distance between the starting point and the houbara bustard's release point being approximately 2km, depending on the direction the houbara chooses, whether east or west.

He noted that the committee has introduced a modification in this edition of the Marmi Festival: any falcon that goes to the houbara's release point and does not directly pursue the houbara will be disqualified from the competition.

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