{"id":24116,"date":"2022-12-25T09:16:23","date_gmt":"2022-12-25T09:16:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/messi-calligraphy-sketches-a-big-hit-among-qatar-world-cup-fans-2"},"modified":"2022-12-25T10:18:35","modified_gmt":"2022-12-25T10:18:35","slug":"messi-calligraphy-sketches-a-big-hit-among-qatar-world-cup-fans-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/messi-calligraphy-sketches-a-big-hit-among-qatar-world-cup-fans-2","title":{"rendered":"Messi calligraphy sketches a big hit among Qatar World Cup fans"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Mauritius. <\/strong><\/span>Outside the Souq Art Centre in Doha\u2019s popular Souq Waqif market, Qatar-based artist Khaled Almesawy has been inundated with orders from residents and football World Cup visitors for his unique calligraphy sketches of Argentina\u2019s superstar Lionel Messi.<\/p>\n

From Dumyat city in Egypt, Almesawy said people were amazed not only by his Messi portraits but also his Arabic-inspired calligraphy art \u2013 especially foreigners who were seeing this art form for the first time.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s the most popular footballer who people want me to draw because everyone loves Messi,\u201d the Egyptian artist told Al Jazeera, while in the middle of sketching one of his many Messi calligraphy-based portraits using only the Argentinian\u2019s name written in Arabic.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love their reaction, especially of foreigners .
\n. they have been sharing my sketches on Instagram and other social media,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Keeping his drawings of Messi company was another sketch of Argentina\u2019s legendary Diego Maradona, who was the artist\u2019s all-time favourite player before Messi took the footballing world by storm some 17 years ago.<\/p>\n

Khaled Almesawy sits with a sketch resting on his knees. There is a sketch of Messi on an easel to his left and another hanging on the wall to his right. Two people pose for the photo behind him.<\/p>\n

According to Almesawy, aside from the admiration people have for Messi\u2019s genius on the pitch, they are also excited to see him in the flesh and possibly, finally, winning a World Cup.<\/p>\n

From the number of people wearing Messi football jerseys to those chanting his name and waving flags bearing his image, often next to Maradona, no other player at this tournament has been as popular as Messi.<\/p>\n

Despite multiple trophies and accolades, the World Cup has alluded Messi since he first made an appearance at the tournament in 2006. Sunday\u2019s upcoming final against reigning champions France is likely to be the 35-year-old Argentinian\u2019s last chance to win that title, after playing in a total of five World Cups.<\/p>\n

Messi and Argentina\u2019s last World Cup final was in 2014 in Brazil, where they lost 1-0 to Germany in extra time. \u2018It\u2019s been really good\u2019 Almesawy, who has been living in Qatar for 25 years, told Al Jazeera how good the FIFA World Cup has been for him and for the country he calls home, as football fever and tourism have gripped the diminutive gulf nation over the past several weeks.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wish the World Cup would could take place every four years in Doha,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been really good for me personally and professionally,\u201d he said. Since the World Cup kicked off last month, Almesawy said he has not taken a single day off.<\/p>\n

Despite the gruelling schedule, he said his art was \u201ceverything\u201d to him. \u201cI come in at 3-4pm (12:00-13:00 GMT) and I\u2019m supposed to leave at 10pm (19:00 GMT). But I just keep drawing for hours after,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Mauritius<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Mauritius. Outside the Souq Art Centre in Doha\u2019s popular Souq Waqif market, Qatar-based artist Khaled Almesawy has been inundated with orders from residents and football World Cup visitors for his unique calligraphy sketches of Argentina\u2019s superstar Lionel Messi. From Dumyat city in Egypt, Almesawy said people were amazed not only by his Messi […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":24115,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,17],"tags":[233,245,2328,241],"class_list":["post-24116","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-sport","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-mauritius","tag-lionel-messi","tag-mauritius"],"yoast_head":"\nMessi calligraphy sketches a big hit among Qatar World Cup fans - Mauritius<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Outside the Souq Art Centre in Doha\u2019s popular Souq Waqif market, Qatar-based artist Khaled Almesawy has been inundated w ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/messi-calligraphy-sketches-a-big-hit-among-qatar-world-cup-fans-2\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Messi calligraphy sketches a big hit among Qatar World Cup fans\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Outside the Souq Art Centre in Doha\u2019s popular Souq Waqif market, Qatar-based artist Khaled Almesawy has been inundated w ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/messi-calligraphy-sketches-a-big-hit-among-qatar-world-cup-fans-2\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Mauritius\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-12-25T09:16:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-12-25T10:18:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/sites\/61\/2022\/12\/postQueueImg_1671950810.04.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/messi-calligraphy-sketches-a-big-hit-among-qatar-world-cup-fans-2#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/messi-calligraphy-sketches-a-big-hit-among-qatar-world-cup-fans-2\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Messi calligraphy sketches a big hit among Qatar World Cup fans\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-12-25T09:16:23+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-12-25T10:18:35+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/messi-calligraphy-sketches-a-big-hit-among-qatar-world-cup-fans-2\"},\"wordCount\":511,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/messi-calligraphy-sketches-a-big-hit-among-qatar-world-cup-fans-2#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/sites\/61\/2022\/12\/postQueueImg_1671950810.04.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Mauritius\",\"Lionel Messi\",\"Mauritius\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"sport\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/messi-calligraphy-sketches-a-big-hit-among-qatar-world-cup-fans-2#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/messi-calligraphy-sketches-a-big-hit-among-qatar-world-cup-fans-2\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/messi-calligraphy-sketches-a-big-hit-among-qatar-world-cup-fans-2\",\"name\":\"Messi calligraphy sketches a big hit among Qatar World Cup fans - 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