JEDDAH, 26 April 2006 — The Masters Academy successfully staged the first Masters Fencing Tournament at the weekend to mark its first year of operation as a center for the sport of fencing.
Fans and supporters turned out in force to watch the fencers display their skills at the Masters Academy Hall.
“This is our first tournament in Jeddah since we first opened this center a year ago,” said captain Omar Abu Romia.
Abu Romia who came here to establish the center after years of experience in the Eastern Province from 1989 up to 2004 is also the supervisor of this tournament in which 27 athletes participated. He said that most of the players had showed an excellent performance though they only have a little less than one year of experience.
Awards were handed to four combats and in addition Seif ibn Ladin received the best player award.
Winners in the combat fencing for novice were: Abdulaziz Al-Ghithmi, Ammar Battirji and Jameel Khoja; in combat fencing for beginners were: |Amro Taha, Ahmed Al-Awwad and Mohammed Taha; in foil combat for all were: Abdulla Daghistani, first place; Mohammed Daghustani second and Sharaf Akeel third. And in the foil combat for beginners first place went to Mohammed Ashram and second place to Ahmed Khogir.
At this center, Abu Romia said, they offer two types of training. One for the youth aged 8 to 14 years who are looking to develop their potentials into world-class levels. Second for those who come for fun and used to play before at varied centers whether here or abroad.
More information can be also found at the website, www.arabfencing.com.
Meanwhile, under the supervision of the Arab Fencing Federation, Kuwait is hosting the Asian Fencing Championships from April 24 to 30 at the Khitan Club there.
It is the biggest tournament in the region with over 460 players of both sexes from 20 countries seeing action, among them, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Palestine, Iran, Thailand, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, New Zealand and Kuwait.
