JEDDAH, 8 April 2005 — The First Islamic Solidarity Games, an idea whose time has come, take centerstage today with a grand opening ceremony at the King Abdul Aziz Sports City Stadium in Makkah.
Makkah Governor Prince Abdul Majeed will open the 13-day meet dedicated to the Muslim youths during the inaugural rites.
Prince Sultan ibn Fahd, president of both the General Presidency of Youth Welfare and Saudi Football Federation, and his deputy at SFF Prince Nawaf ibn Faisal will also attend the opening ceremony.
The traditional marchpast of teams, a simultaneous fireworks display at stadiums in Makkah, Madinah, Jeddah and Taif, and a presentation by 3,000 schoolchildren and 60 teachers showcasing the rich Makkah traditions will highlight today’s ceremony.
The unique opening ceremony wil be aired live on television, according to the games’ chief organizer and Deputy President of GPYW Dr. Saleh ibn Naser who inspected the King Abdul Aziz Sports City on the eve of opening day .
The competitions go full blast starting tomorrow. A total of 7,000 athletes from 57 Islamic countries will contest medals in 13 sport disciplines at venues spread out over the four cities of Jeddah, Makkah, Madinah and Taif.
The late Prince Faisal ibn Fahd was the one who hit upon the idea 30 years ago of organizing Islamic solidarity games as a way of gathering Muslim youths on the soil of the two holy mosques.
The higher organizing committee has invited the heads of sports federations of all participating countries and 54 of these have confirmed their attendance to the games that will run through April 20.
Prince Sultan and Prince Nawaf have thrown their unqualified support to the groundbreaking event that will show the world the Kingdom is capable of hosting international meets of this magnitude.
A budget of SR7 million has been earmarked for the local sports federations in preparing the athletes for the games.
Saudi Arabia entered in athletics, swimming, diving, water polo, tennis, weightlifting, football, basketball, volleyball, hand ball, karate and some special games for the handicapped.
Football is expected to be keenly contested following reports that there will be some big names in world soccer seeing action. The teams likely to figure in the race for honors are: Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Uganda, Tajikistan, Pakistan, Turkmenistan, Sudan, Chad, Al0geria, Senegal, Oman, Palestine, Cameron, Malaysia, Mali, Egypt, Morocco, Syria and Yemen.
Efforts are being made by certain countries to call their international professional players in Europe to participate in the competition.
Saudi Arabia is bankrolling participation of all teams to guarantee that a large number of Muslim countries take part.
Karate attracted the most number of entries at 34, basketball and weightlighting each lured 26 and football 20.
To ensure the smooth running of the multi-event meet organizers have tapped the services of various private establishments to look after the needs of teams from training to actual competition to security.
A special committee has also been formed to conduct random dope tests of players.
