AT A NILE SIDE press conference, Engineer Ayman Abdel-Wahab, Special Olympics Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Regional President, announced that Egypt will host the 8th Special Olympics MENA Regional Games on 2-8 December in Cairo. After 15 years of absence, Egypt has again been chosen to host the MENA Games for intellectual disabilities. The first version of the competition was hosted by Egypt in 1999 with the participation of 150 athletes and their families. “Egypt is honoured to host the eighth version of the games after its success in hosting the North Africa Football qualifications to the first-ever Special Olympics World Cup to take place in Malaysia next November where Libya was able to qualify,” Abdel-Wahab announced at the press conference. He went on to explain that he was glad Egypt was chosen, as the country needs to send a message to the world that “it is peaceful, safe and marvelous as usual. We have suffered a lot in the previous three years all through the MENA Region because of the Arab Spring. That is why the previous games that were supposed to be held in 2012 were cancelled. So these games have a special significance coming after a number of revolutions in a number of MENA Region countries,” he said. The last MENA Games were hosted by Syria in 2010. Abdel-Wahab added that while it is an honour for Egypt to be the host, it also places a great responsibility on its shoulders and everyone needs to work together to make it a success. “Minister of Youth and Sports Engineer Khaled Abdel-Aziz is thoroughly supporting us in hosting such an event as he sees it's the right of those intellectually disabled to practice sports and compete to win medals and celebrate their achievements together with their families,” he said. The eighth MENA Regional Games will host 1,000 athletes representing the MENA Region's 22 countries, in addition to Iran. The games will be played at four venues and five events and a simultaneous youth conference, the Healthy Athlete Programme, will also be held. Meanwhile, Abdel-Wahab announced that, for the first time ever, SO MENA will host an SO MENA Winter Games to take place in Beirut, Lebanon in 2016. He went on to say that he will call for a Special Olympics International board members meeting to be held alongside the games in one of the Red Sea resorts to send a message that Egypt is safe and peaceful. The date of the games, he elucidated, coincides with the celebration of Christmas and the New Year, which allows a larger number of dignitaries and celebrities to attend and, at the same time, enjoy Egypt's warm weather. It was also announced that Sami Antar, a renowned Egyptian swimmer in the sixties who holds a masters degree in physical fitness, will be the head of the 8th MENA Region Organising Committee. Named the youngest swimmer to collect a gold medal in 1964, he quit and moved to Denmark where he resided for 30 years working as a businessman and taking an active part in a club for the intellectually disabled. “Heading the organising committee of the games is an honour,” Antar told Al-Ahram Weekly. “But at the same time, it is a heavy responsibility that I am happy to take over. I want to be able to draw a smile on the faces of the intellectually disabled athletes. I will do my best and I hope it will be one of the best games ever.”
