Emirati stars Hussain Al Jassmi, Eida Al Menhali and Balqees Fathi will perform at the opening ceremony of the Asian Cup. Courtesy Asian Cup
Emirati stars Hussain Al Jassmi, Eida Al Menhali and Balqees Fathi will perform at the opening ceremony of the Asian Cup. Courtesy Asian Cup

UAE stars Hussain Al Jassmi, Balqees and Eida Al Menhali to open Asian Cup



Three of the UAE's biggest stars are set to perform during the opening ceremony of the AFC Asian Cup.

Emirati singers Hussain Al Jassmi and Eida Al Menhali, along with Yemeni-Emirati singer Balqees Fathi, will take the stage at Zayed Sports City Stadium on January 5 at 7.30pm ahead of the opening match between the host UAE and Bahrain.

The event will feature a series of live musical performances aiming to give tribute to Asian football following with the theme of "Bringing Asia Together". The opening ceremony show will also tell the tale of Mansour (one of the tournament's mascots), an Emirati boy inspired by the beauty of the flight of falcons. Inspired by their gracious movements, he extends an Emirati welcome to Asia and the rest of the world.

The Local Organising Committee has also revealed that as many as 600 expert performers from the UAE and around the world will participate in the live extravaganza including drummers, Ayalla dancers and origami falcons.

The trio bring star power to the event. Al Jassmi is one of the Middle East's top-selling artists and he made history back in December when he became the first Arab artist to perform at the Vatican's annual Christmas concert. Balqees made her music debut in 2013 and her album Zay Ma Ana was the most downloaded album on iTunes in the Middle East in 2015. Al Menhali is most known for his hit single Motasoa and he last performed at the Sheikh Zayed Heritage Festival for New Year's Eve.

Fans who plan on attending are asked to be in their seats by 7.30pm to enjoy the full spectacle of the ceremony before the 8pm match start. This is just the second time the UAE has hosted the tournament – the last time they did so was in 1996.

The Asian Cup UAE runs from January 5 to Feb 1 with 51-matches being played in eight stadiums around four host cities. For more, visit www.the-afc.com/asiancup

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Asia Cup 2018 Qualifier

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  • UAE beat Malaysia by eight wickets
  • Nepal beat Singapore by four wickets
  • Oman v Hong Kong, no result

Tuesday fixtures:

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  • UAE v Oman
  • Nepal v Hong Kong
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