Reda Saleem (Dubai)
Qais Al-Dhali, President of the Arab Rugby Federation, revealed the details of the Arab Championship for men and women, which will be held next February 16 and 17 at King Fahd Sports City in Taif, Saudi Arabia, with the participation of 18 teams, including 10 teams for men and 8 for women. He said: “We have entered the final meters of the Arab Championship.” The ninth for men and the fourth for women, and coordination is being made with the Saudi Rugby Federation to put the final touches, especially since the tournament was moved from Riyadh to Taif.”
He added: “The tournament will be held for the first time in Saudi Arabia, and it will be a special edition, especially since the facilities are at the highest level, and there is cooperation with the Saudi Olympic Committee and the Saudi Rugby Federation, headed by Ali bin Misbah Al-Dajjani, and we extend our thanks to Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al-Faisal, Minister of Sports and Chairman of the Committee.” The Saudi Olympic and Paralympic Committee, and Prince Fahd bin Jalawi bin Abdulaziz bin Musaed, Vice President of the Saudi Olympic and Paralympic Committee, for their cooperation to make the Arab wedding a success.
He noted that when the Arab Championship is held on an Asian continent, supervision will be from the Asian Confederation, which is what happens when it is held in an African country, supervision will be from the African Union. He said: “We have Arab referees, and in the last tournament we had 5 referees from Tunisia, Libya, Jordan, and Egypt, and we opened the door.” “For federations to nominate their referees, provided that the referee is at the second level, provided that we are supplemented by Asian referees, and the tournament is recognized by the International Federation, and the international discipline system is applied.”
Al-Dhali’i indicated that the Federation’s General Assembly will hold its meeting on February 15 next on the sidelines of the tournament, and that there are a number of issues on the meeting table, foremost of which is determining the location of the next edition of the tournament. He said: “We hope that it will be hosted by the continent of Africa so that there will be an exchange in holding… The tournament is between the two continents, and Morocco has requested to host the tournament, but discussions will be at the meeting table, in addition to the announcement of the first champion club tournament in the 15-player category, and there is a desire to hold it in Egypt at the end of next August.”
Al-Dhali’i explained: “The Arab Championship has witnessed development in less than 9 years since I assumed the presidency of the federation in 2015. The Arab Federation was established in 2001, but there were no championships. An emergency general assembly meeting was held and I was recommended for the presidency of the federation, and we succeeded over the past years in Making a leap, we held the first tournament in 2016 in the El Gouna region in Egypt, and it had only 4 teams, namely the Emirates, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Morocco for men. The difference is big between the first tournament and the next edition, which witnesses the participation of 18 teams for men and women, which is a record number of participation, and the member states At the beginning of assuming the mission, their number was only 4, and now 14 countries are members of the Arab Union, which confirms the organizational, technical and administrative success of the work of the Board of Directors throughout these years.
The President of the Arab Federation stressed that the UAE was behind the success of Arab rugby, and the great leap forward for the Olympic team game, in light of the efforts of the game’s primary supporter, His Highness Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Vice President of the State, Deputy Prime Minister, and Head of the Presidential Office, both at the local level. Arab and Asian.
Al-Dhali’i noted that the Arab Federation did not neglect the marketing aspect of the championships and said: “Indeed, we succeeded in marketing the last Arab Championship, which was held in the city of Al-Ain, where the securities company was located, and we seek to bring new sponsors in the Taif edition in order to support the Federation’s resources and the Arab Championships. The first is towards continental competition, and the most important thing is that we start with the Gulf championships, then the Arab and continental participations, and the AFC calendar will begin next April, in my capacity as president of the continental federation.”
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