JEDDAH, 2 June 2008 — In less than two months Iran is expected to send for approval by the Islamic Solidarity Sports Federation (ISSF) and subsequent dissemination to the rest of the 57 member-countries the rules and regulations in the 2nd Islamic Solidarity Games.
Iran is hosting the quadrennial multisport event Oct. 15 to 30 next year, with competitions to be held in the three cities of Tehran, Isfahan and Mashhad.
According to Secretary-general Mohammad Gazdar, ISSF officials traveled last month to Iran to ensure everything is order and that Iran would be fit to host the event. “Indeed Iran is an impressive country with huge interest when it comes to supporting sports. They have unlimited number of sports complex and I am sure with their long experience in hosting sports events, they would do just fine with the 2nd staging of the games,” he said.
He said by releasing in advance the final rules and regulations of the games they hope national Olympic committees would be able to devise suitable training plans to prepare their athletes.
Athletes will vie in 14 sport disciplines in which women are entered in six of them as follows: athletics (men, women), swimming, diving, water polo, volleyball, basketball, weightlifting, table tennis (men, women), shooting (men, women), football, handball, taekwondo (men, women), karate (men, women), fencing (men, women), wrestling-Greco Roman, wrestling-freestyle, judo. Also, 5-a-side football, table tennis and shooting for athletes with special needs, wheelchair volleyball, wheelchair basketball, and the demonstration and ancient Persian sport of zurkhaneh have been included in the calendar of events.
“This game is almost 3,000 years old in Iran but because it is new to many Muslim countries we thought of keeping it as a demonstration sport only, though Iran inaugurated the Zurkhaneh Sport Federation and its competition attracted up to 35 countries,” Gazdar said of zurkhaneh.
He said during the last ISSF general assembly meeting on May 6-7 in Jeddah Indonesia was picked to host the third Islamic Solidarity Games in 2013. They also encouraged all the NOCs in the ISSF to fully cooperate and make the 2nd Islamic Solidarity Games a success.
They also agreed the distribution of the technical handbooks and entry forms will be on Aug. 10, and the accomplished forms should reach the organizing committee by Oct.1. Media accreditation forms will be made available by March 2 and received by June 10.
Iran hopes to match if nor surpass the 6,000 athletes that attended the inaugural games. These athletes are to represent the 57 Islamic countries registered under the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) regardless of their religion.
“The purpose of creating the ISSF is not only to promote sports but to create solidarity and cooperation between the youth in the countries registered in the OIC via sports,” said Gazdar adding the ISSF receives an annual budget from the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah.
“When we say youth we mean both sexes simply because the ISSF runs under the OIC and the participation of both sexes is mandatory. Hence, when we run such an event we welcome and encourage both sexes because we follow the same rules and regulations the OIC has,” he said.
Meanwhile, the 2nd Islamic Solidarity Games official website www.iran2009.com has been launched ahead of its scheduled June opening.
Saudi Arabia emerged overall champions when they hosted the 1st Islamic Solidarity Games with 60 medals (24 gold medals, 17 silvers, 19 bronzes), Egypt came second with (14-15-13), Kazakhstan third (13-8-6), Iran fourth (10-9-11), and Iraq fifth (9-9-7).
