CAIRO: The American University in Cairo (AUC) is hosting 700 athletes from 18 Arab countries at the second Arab University Games from October 17 to October 23, in the sports complex in its New Cairo Campus. The campus has been selected to host men's and women's basketball, track and field, judo, swimming and Tae Kwon Do events. Six other venues in Cairo will host competitions in shooting, badminton, squash, football, volleyball, chess, handball, wrestling, karate, fencing, tennis and table tennis. Participating Arab countries include the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Morocco, Algeria, Syria, Kuwait, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Libya, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Bahrain, and Sudan. The second Arab University Games are held under the auspices of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, and organized by the Egyptian University Sports Federation, and the Arab Federation for University Sports. “AUC is very proud that our campus athletic facilities have been selected to host in hosting this multi-national sports event. Hosting a part of this competition is very significant to the university, as it is our first chance to show off our facilities to other countries in the region,” said Charles Gordon, director of athletics. “We are very excited to welcome 700 athletes to our campus, many of whom are visiting Egypt for the first time,” Gordon added. The AUC Sports Complex is the largest space on the university's new campus with more than 40,000 square meters of indoor and outdoor space. The indoor area includes 2,000-seat arena main court, a martial-arts arena, which seats up to 300; squash courts, exercise and fitness rooms, a free-weight studio, saunas and steam rooms. The outdoor space includes the track-and-field and soccer stadium, which is considered the largest outdoor facility seating 2,000. This is in addition to an Olympic-size swimming pool; a soccer practice field; tennis, basketball, handball and volleyball courts; and a jogging and cycling track. Other locations for the Games outside AUC include, Cairo University, Cairo Stadium, Maadi Olympic Center, Wadi Degla Sporting Club, Shooting Club, and Nasr City Club. “The AUC campus is outstanding and spacious. We have found all what we need and more, in terms of residence, food, and the people. AUC officials have welcomed our delegation greatly and everything is just perfect,” said Maklaty Al Eifa, Basketball coach of the Algerian team. “We hope the games would be as good on the technical level as on the morale level. We are here to meet our Arab brothers,” he added. “We are looking forward to the competition as we have many strong teams competing with like Egypt, Iraq and United Arab Emirates, so I'm expecting that the competition will be challenging,” said Guedada Omar, male basketball team captain of the Algerian team. Dana Faisal Fedda, a female basketball player from Jordan, who is participating for the first time in the Arab University Games, believes that the sports facilities at AUC is a big asset for the university. “The facilities you have here encourage the students to excel in different games. It is great that students do not come to the university only to study, but to exercise as well,” she said. All events at AUC are free of charge. For more information on detailed list of events, along with updates and scores, you can log onto AUC's website. BM
