BAHRAIN's delegation to the third Islamic Solidarity Games has been approved, the Bahrain Olympic Committee announced yesterday.The Games are set to take place in Palembang, the capital city of the South Sumatera in Indonesia, from September 22 to October 1, as 33 athletes will spearhead the kingdom in three disciplines - athletics, karate and taekwondo.
BOC board member Abdulhakim Al Shino is heading the Bahrain delegation to the Games. Other delegation officials are director Sameer Shuwaiter, deputy director Maryam Mardana and treasurer Abdulla Rabeia.
Eleven athletes were chosen for the athletics event. They are former world champions Maryam Yusuf Jamal and Youssef Saad Kamel, Belal Manoor Ali, Mimi Belete Salem, Shitaye Mubarak Eshete, Ali Khamis, Hassan Mahboob, Dejene Regassa, Genzeb Shumi, Mohammed Salman and Tareq Mubarak Taher.
They will be traveling along with team administrators Saad Al Buainain and Mohammed Hassan, physiotherapist Eid Hassan and head coach Vladimir. the athletics event is scheduled to take place from September 25 to 29.
In taekwondo, coach Tawfeeq Nuwaiser has named five players for the Games and they are Hamad Al Bin Khalil, Hesham Al Hashimi, Fahad Al Bosta, Mohammed Ahmed and Fajar Al Binali. Their events will be held from September 27 to October 1.
The karate team also features five players, namely Noora Ahmed, Mustafa Al Shaikh, Bashar Al Sanjar, Mohamed Al Shaikh and Sara Al Sabah. They are being coached by Mohamed Larbi Boumezbeur. The karate competitions are due to take place from September 22 to 26.
Both Shuwaiter and his deputy Mardana are due to travel to Indonesia tomorrow. The karate and taekwondo delegations will leave the next day, to be followed by the athletics team on Friday.
The Islamic Solidarity Games is a multinational, multi-sport event. The Games involve the elite athletes of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference.
The Islamic Solidarity Games Federation (ISSF) is the organisation that is responsible for the direction and control of the Islamic Solidarity Games.
As many as 55 countries are expected to participate in the Games, which will feature 13 disciplines like athletics, badminton, basketball, football, weightlifting, karate, archery, taekwondo, tennis, volleyball, wushu and swimming.
The first edition of the Games was held in 2005 in Saudi Arabia. The second event was cancelled after it zhad been originally scheduled to take place in Tehran in October 2009. Azerbaijan will host the 4th Islamic Solidarity Games in 2017.
.
