Drawing to a close, the Islamic Solidarity Games may have changed Western perceptions of Saudi Arabia and Islam. Nashwa Abdel-Tawab reports The first Islamic Solidarity Games was scheduled to have ended yesterday with host Saudi Arabia on top of the medals standings with 23 gold, 18 silver and 18 bronze for 59 medals. With a total of 42 medals, Egypt came in second place with 14 gold, 15 silver and 13 bronze. After leading the table for almost a week, Kazakhstan retreated to third place with 27 medals -- 13 gold, eight silver and six bronze. Prince Nawaf Bin Mohamed, chairman of the Saudi Athletics Federation, said the "remarkable accomplishment" by the Kingdom's athletes "was made with the help of Almighty God" and with the tangible efforts and support extended by the government of King Fahd. At a press conference Nawaf thanked those who supported the Saudi team in the tournament and the athletes. "King Abdul-Aziz Sports City is ready to host in the future any world sports event after being equipped with new and modern sports devices," he added. The first Islamic Games began in the holy city of Mecca on 8 April with an Olympic-style tournament aimed at showing Muslim sports prowess and featuring 6,000 athletes -- none of them women. The 55- nation tournament was dubbed the Islamic Olympic Games and was hosted by the Saudi cities of Mecca, Medina, Jeddah and Taif. Mecca hosted the opening ceremony and Medina the closing. Prince Abdel-Majid Bin Abdel- Aziz, the prince of Mecca, opened the Games in a ceremony in which more than 2,600 students participated at King Abdul-Aziz Stadium. Saudi officials say the Games are the second largest sports gathering after the Olympics. The athletes took part in 13 male-only events with the mentally and physically challenged competing in special events. Organisers hope the event will give a new image of life in Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam, than what is being presented in the Western media as well as projecting a more positive image of Islam to the world. "We hope the Games will show the truth of Islam, which is that it is a religion of peace," said Games director Saleh Bin Nasser in Jeddah. "Mecca and Medina were chosen from the start because of their significance to Islam," Nasser said. "We then had to expand to Jeddah and Taif because we needed more room." "The groundbreaking multi-event gathering has the potential to become one of the most important fixtures in the world of sports," said Abdul-Khaliq Khan, acting secretary-general of the Pakistan Olympic Association. In the end, Saudi Arabia stole the show. In one particular day, they took 16 gold medals, nine of which were in track and field and the remainder in the weightlifting. They also put a brake on Iran's winning streak in disabled futsal event in Jeddah. Supported by home fans packing Abdel-Aziz University Hall, Saudi Arabia defeated the Iranian side 5-2, grabbing the glittering gold. Table tennis and fencing went the way of the Pharaohs. Ahmed Saleh, Sayed Lashin and Ahmed Nadim made history by sweeping the three medals in the table tennis singles event. The Egyptian swordsmen narrowly outdueled Iran 45-44 to snatch the gold medal in the saber final. The bronze went to Saudi Arabia and Republic of Azerbaijan. In the foil, Egypt celebrated the title, the silver going to Kuwait and the bronze to Egypt and Iran. In the epee team competitions, Egypt took the gold, Iran silver and Saudi Arabia bronze. In the individual epee event, Egypt got the gold. The next Games are in Iran in 2009 and Syria in 2013.
