JEDDAH, 17 April 2005 — The Editor in Chief of Italian newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport and deputy president of international sport journalism organization, Gianno Marlo, lauded the organization of the first Islamic Solidarity Games and expressed his happiness at visiting the Kingdom.
Marlo is here to cover the games and has visited all four cities where the teams are competing. He was impressed by the amount of development in Saudi sport. He also expressed his admiration to the Academy being started by Ahli Club, describing this project as one of the best sport project in the Kingdom.
Marlo, who has been a sport journalist for more than 30 years, said, “I was very much impressed by Muhammad Al-Khuwaildi who set an Asian record of 8,44 meters in long jump in the games. I spoke to the man and was impressed by his awareness and diligence. He impressed me as a man and as an astute athlete and I think he has a bright future. His performance will enable him to compete at international levels. From what I have seen here, I think Saudi athletics is developing and making great strides.”
He said, “I have been following Saudi sports on TV and in international newspapers. When I came to Saudi Arabia, I discovered that what I had read was much different from what I saw. I have seen incredible development in all sports and constant support to sports projects, like the academy of Al-Ahli Club, and the emergence of many competent athletes in every sport. I am a strong believer in setting up a strong infrastructure. And that’s what the Saudi authorities are doing now. Such projects are sure to inject new talent in Saudi football.”
Marlo said many Islamic countries do not give the same weightage to sports as other countries. But his visit here has been a revelation. Many Islamic countries have show advancement in various disciplines, especially in Saudi teams. He was pleasantly surprised by the Saudi Arabian achievement in athletics with his picks being Ibraheem Al-Hameedi ( 49,55 seconds in 400 m hurdles), Al-Khuwaildi (Asian record in long jump) and Al-Yami (a run of 10,22 in 100m).
As for football, he said, “I have followed the Saudi football team in Korea-Japan. Their performance there was not good and, I think the reason could be the cold weather. It is very hot in Saudi Arabia and such heat cannot prepare the Saudi team for World Cup. The performance in the last world cup was poor compared to the Saudi performance in pervious World Cup competitions.”
