Bringing UAE’s rich heritage to the fore with Fazza Al Youlah Championship

Hiba Khan - Writer 16:42 04/01/2018
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  • There is no better place to see UAE’s culture come to life than Heritage Village, set up for the fourth consecutive year by Hamdan Bin Mohammed Heritage Center (HHC) at Global Village, which transports spectators to the rich past of the emirates every evening.

    The Village features the Meydan, a prestigious platform that has played a vital role in keeping UAE’s unique traditional sport – Youlah – alive with the Fazza Championship.

    Youlah dance has been a long- standing tradition in the UAE culture with its origins in the army as a celebratory jig that was done with real weapons in the past.

    It has come a long way since then, evolving aesthetically into a sport as rifles were replaced by replicas.

    The performer or ‘Yaweel’, as they are called, go through rigorous training to master spinning the rifle with the lightest of footwork.

    The performance also includes flinging the rifle as high as possible before catching it. A laser beam scans the sky at a height of 17-20m. A loud buzzer goes off when a contestant reaches that height with the rifle throw.

    Fazza Championship for Youlah 2017-18

    Fine balance: contestants in Youlah Championship are judged on footwork and overall fluidity of their performance

    Youlah is an integral part of Emirati culture. Practice starts early in life with the sport a symbol of pride for Emirati men.

    Championship organisers HHC have revised the format of competition this year with 16 finalists and a stand-by team chosen after a record number of 411 took part in the qualification rounds held on November 23-24 at Al Meydan Fort in Global Village.

    Four contestants perform during each episode from which two will qualify to the next round.

    A public vote will be taken into account while finalising the four semi-finalists who will then fight it out in the grand finale.

    This week was the third episode of the Youlah Championship and the season will run until March with a grand prize of Dh1 million on offer.

    Judges evaluate contestants on footwork, rotation of the rifle, the throw, catch and overall fluidity of the movements, before awarding a score out of 50.

    HHC works tirelessly to pro- mote and preserve Emirati heritage sports and with the use of latest digital technology they have enhanced the experience and taken the tradition sport to a whole new level.

    “We have witnessed a remarkable development over the past 13 years in the Meydan programme, which is broadcast on the small screen and reaches millions of viewers in the country and abroad. It high- lights the heritage of the people of the UAE and the success of this legacy,” said Suad Ibrahim Darwish, director of Champion- ships at HHC.

    Darwish added competitions like Youlah embody the centre’s efforts to conserve and promote traditional sports among the new generation.

    “We have been conducting the Fazza Championship for Youlah for the past 18 years. We are reaping the results of having programmes throughout the year for the youth of the country to exercise their skills in this unique traditional sport.

    Most of the contestants graduated from competitions at the Fazza Championship Summer Youlah for Junior and Fazza Championship Youlah for Schools.

    “It is very important that the new generation grow up with a passion for the sport of Youlah,” she said.

    To help contestants with their performance, HHC announced special daily training programmes at Al Meydan Fort in Global Village from 17:00 to 20:00 conducted by professionals. The programme is open to everyone.

    The Youlah Championship is broadcast live on Sama Dubai every Friday from 21:00.

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