COMPETITIONS TOUGH BUT FUN, SAY CONTESTANTS
The distraction from a noisy milling crowd inside the exhibition halls had no impact on Lionel Dias, a 22-year old from Portugal. One of the hundreds of participants at Abu Dhabi WorldSkills 2017, Dias is all set to test his abilities in the world’s largest skill competition hosted by Abu Dhabi.
“I am interested in cars and wants to open my own workshop some day. That is why I am participating in the car painting skills competition,” Dias told Khaleej Times after finishing his two competition modules lasting four hours.
“I had to complete two tasks today, each lasting two hours. One is to spot repair the front fender, and other is to mask half a car. If you do it too slow, you will run out of time. Also, you cannot be too fast and make errors. So, the trick is to balance both,” said Dias.
A few metres away, in another competition area, fresh smell of baked bread filled the air. It is the bakery section, and aspiring young chefs are baking the French bread Focassia. Young participants from China, Germany, France, Australia and many more are putting out their best culinary skills to compete the task at hand. In the next section, a competition on Patisserie and Confectionary just got over and a panel of judges are moving around, examining the results and giving their verdict on the desserts and starters prepared and laid out artistically.
Avin Thaliath, an expert was supervising the competition for making Focaccia bread. “This competition is held in two shifts. The first one started at 9.30 in the morning and ended at 2.30pm lasting five hours. Second shift starts at 3pm and goes up to another five hours,” said Thaliath.
A total of 1,259 competitors from 77 different countries will be competing in 51 different skill competitions at the WorldSkills Abu Dhabi that is being held from October 15 to 18.
Wonderful experience
The mood was upbeat on the first day of the competition Johanna Hansson, 22, from Sweden who is competing in Visual Merchandising said it was tough but fun.
“I am competing against the world’s best talents. So, it is definitely tough. But it is really fun too.”
Hansson had to design a window display for the brand Juicy Couture with a holiday theme. “I have given my best. Tomorrow we will be getting a new task but we don’t know what that is.”
Karishma Gupta from India, who wants to build a career in the beauty and wellness industry competed in the beauty therapy skill. She called her first day at WorldSkills a wonderful experience. “I just finished my first module where we were 29 competitors and who were given various tasks like waxing, facial and pedicure. It is a unique and challenging experience to work when there is so much crowd around you, but we have to just focus on our job.”
The winners in 51 different skill sets will be announced at the end of the WorldSkills event on October 18. The competitions being held at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre is open to the public from Sunday. anjana@khaleejtimes.com ashwani@khaleejtimes.com