JEDDAH, 1 May 2005 — Dar Al-Hekma College for girls is organizing the first Table Tennis Open Tournament for girls here. Six teams, including Dar Al-Hekma’s team, will participate in the tournament that starts today and ends on Tuesday. The other teams are Effat College, My Little House School, the Indian School, King Abdul Aziz University Medical College and Al-Hamra School. The tournament for girls is the first such event in Jeddah. Dar Al-Hekma said that it hopes to make it an annual event.
The tournament is being held under the auspices of Princess Lolowah Al-Faisal, vice chairman of the Board of Trustees and general supervisor of Effat College. “The finals will be played on Tuesday and ladies are invited to attend it,” said Dr. Ibtisam Fakahani, vice dean of Dar Al-Hekma. There will be trophies and prizes for the winners. Dr. Fakahani said table tennis is a sport that suits women. It also enhances their health and it is a sport they can play at home. “The tournament comes within the college’s framework of interests in the different sport activities that suit women, our traditions and that benefit women in occupying their free time,” said Dr. Fakahani.
Effat College has been organizing an annual girls’ basketball tournament for a few years now.
Girls are not taught physical education in public schools on the grounds of religious and tradition considerations as well as financial. But private schools and colleges offer a range of sports and physical education classes. Girls at King Abdul Aziz University have sports facilities which they can use to exercise and play games such as basketball, volleyball and table tennis and are invited to participate in tournaments. “These facilities are available for students and staff and we use them all the time and our team competes with teams from other private colleges in Jeddah and many attend to watch the games,” said a student to Arab News.
Another student who resides in the dormitory also mentioned having a swimming pool and a gym within the dormitory campus. “For sports, there are university teams and dormitory teams and we hold competitions throughout the year among ourselves and with teams from other colleges,” said Sharifah Al-Thibiani.
There is a female sports supervisor at the campus who organizes these events and announcements are made on bulletin boards.
The Shoura Council discussed the issue of introducing physical education in girls’ public schools at length last year but no decision was taken on the matter.
