According to Azzam, sport serves as the best way to connect the youth of Arab countries and enable them to build the future of the Arab identity. As a common favorite of young individuals, sports tournaments encourage them to reach out across boundaries, bond with fellow Arabs, and eliminate differences among them. In the same vein, Azzam announced that the youth of the larger Arab nation is eager to gather all the dispersed Arab sports in an annual tournament which will be held in one of the Arab cities.
From then onwards, the youth of the Arab nations began to look forward to the Arab Games as a means of uniting them on social and spiritual platforms.
However, the Arab Games tournament did not gain official approval until 1953, when Eng. Ahmed El Demerdash Touny, an Egyptian national and a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), managed to convince the concerned parties within the Arab League that an Arab Games tournament would be instrumental to the overall success of the Arab identity.
In response to Tounys proposal, the Arab League agreed on establishing the Arab Games, making Egypt the first country to organise an Arab Games tournament, which was held in the scenic and culturally rich city of Alexandria from July 26 August 10,1953. Eight Arab nations and Indonesia competed in the first Arab Games tournament.
Since then, 11 Arab Games tournaments have been held in various Arab cities. The last tournament, which earned widespread praise for its organisation, technical management, and quality of participants, was held in Cairo, Egypt in 2007.
With the growing popularity of successful Arab Games tournaments, passion and interest on the part of sports fans in Arab nations swelled. Number of participating countries and sports escalated, long before the cultural, social, political, and economic objectives of the Arab nations could be achieved.
From nine participating nations in the first-held Arab Games to 22 this year, the Arab Games have come a long way. |
