JEDDAH, 21 October 2005 — Prince Sultan ibn Fahd chaired a joint meeting of the General Presidency of Youth Welfare and Saudi Olympic Committee in which it was decided the Kingdom’s special football team will travel to England for training camp.
Prince Sultan, who heads both the Youth Welfare and the country’s Olympic committee, also directed the formation of working committees for the 28th GCC Weightlifting Championships for the Handicapped to be held in Jeddah from Dec. 17 to 21. He also approved the participation of mentally handicapped Saudi team in the England Marathon set for Jan. 27-30.
The special football team, whose many achievements include a gold medal finish in the first Islamic Solidarity Games in April, are set to compete in the World Cup soccer for the handicapped scheduled Sept. 17-26 in Germany. The England trip forms part of the team’s World Cup preparations.
“Our Saudi teams have honored us in every game they played before. Though they are receiving some good training and supervision from specialists in the Kingdom, this trip will help the team to enhance their performance more,” said Youth Welfare vice-president Dr. Saleh Bin Naser.
The Saudi special football team were formed four years ago and have since brought countless honors to the country in international competitions. There are two Saudi special football teams. One plays at the football five-a-side and the other at the goal ball games.
The five-a-side team comprised Ahmed Gharwi, Fahd Alhargan, Salim Alsoud, Omar Kassar, Mohammed Ayed, Majid Sheean, Khalid Sanbi and Raid Hussain. In the goal ball squad are Abdullah Hanif, Omar Alrashidi, Fahad Aldousari, Majd Alfareh, Khalid Alshammari and Sattam Ahuikem.
