JEDDAH — Kai Fitness Center celebrated its third anniversary Tuesday night at the club center in Jeddah’s Al-Hamra district.
National basketball team and Ittihad club team captain Ali Maghrabi attended the local celebrity-studded gathering that included Saudi actors Habib Al-Habib and Hassan Asiri.
More than 150 guests and club members attended the ceremony.
Kai Fitness Center is considered one of the most elegant clubs in Jeddah and was established in Jan. 1, 2005. Currently the club has more than 2000 members.
Dr. Badr Al-Shibani, owner and manager of the center, said that the main purpose of establishing this club is to spread the correct knowledge about sports and to increase awareness between people about the danger of obesity, which hasbecome widespread these days among Saudi youth, and the diseases that obesity causes.
He said, “The main purpose is not sport only, we are organizing free seminars and lectures about sport and health for members and visitors. We are trying to teach people how to perform sport the right way. We notice that there is great ignorance about the concept of sports as viewed by the Saudi youth. Such seminars will help Saudi youth.”
Al-Shibani said a series of seminars will be taking place at the club every month. The center honored more than 100 members of the club that had their lives changed and made sports part of their daily life.
The club also honored members that stayed with the club since it was first established. The center successfully helped many members to lose weight. “One of the members managed to lose more than 60 kilos in one year,” said Al-Shibani.
He added, “We also managed to bring one member to his original weight from 49 kilos to 65, which is the normal weight.”
Kai sponsored many social charity events since the start of 2008. “Kai Center sponsored car washes to collect fund for the Albir charity organization.
Also we sponsored a charity race in Obhur, in addition to many other events.”
Al-Shibani said that the club extended their service to overweight patients as well. He said, “A local private hospital contacted me regarding a 300-kilo patient who couldn’t move.
They wanted the club’s help to reduce his weight.
The patient couldn’t even lift his arm. We are planning to reduce his weight through sport and diet program to bring him to his normal weight.”
Kai Center is currently working to open a branch in north Jeddah to meet the growing demand of fitness centers.
