Sharjah: As many as 69 clubs from 17 Arab nations have so far registered to compete in the Fourth Arab Women Sports Tournament (AWST) that is scheduled to commence on February 2.
The AWST Supreme Organising Committee (SOC) has confirmed that the UAE will be joined by Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, Morocco, Algeria, Lebanon, Palestine, Sudan, Egypt, Libya, Iraq, Yemen, Somalia and Djibouti during the 11-day competition that will be held at 10 venues in Sharjah in the first half of next month.
Held under the theme ‘The World is Your Court, Together Victorious’, the tournament that is organised by the Sharjah Women’s Sports Foundation (SWSF), will be held under the patronage of Her Highness Shaikha Jawaher Bint Mohammad Al Qasimi, Wife of His Highness Dr Shaikh Sultan Bin Mohammad Al Qasimi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Sharjah, Chairperson of the Supreme Council for Family Affairs (SCFA) and Chairperson of SWSF.
The fourth edition of AWST will see women compete in nine sports disciplines including basketball, volleyball, table tennis, fencing, archery, shooting, athletics, show jumping, and karate.
Nada Askar Al Naqbi, Deputy Head of AWST’s SOC, Head of the Executive Committee and Director General of SWSF, said: “We are extremely pleased with the response to AWST 2018, which has demonstrated the tournament’s leading status as a pan-Arab sporting event for women, attracting not just the highest number of athletes and clubs from the Arab world, but the highest quality. And we are expecting even more entries, which will add further to AWST’s presence on a worldwide sporting platform.”
Al Naqbi pointed out that the increasing number of participants also reflects the success of promotional tours and media campaigns carried out by AWST’s SOC in Saudi Arabia, Morocco and Jordan under the directives of Shaikha Jawaher. With the most comprehensive field of athletes, the UAE will be participating in each of the nine disciplines through athletes from Sharjah Sports Club.
Saudi Arabia is participating in five events with five clubs, namely United Basketball, the Green Jeddah Table Tennis, Saudi Arabia Fencing Federation Academy, Prince Nora University’s Athletics Club and one other, yet to be named, which will take part in the karate competition.
Bahrain and Algeria each have eight clubs across eight disciplines, while Jordan, Somalia and Egypt will participate in four disciplines each. Yemen will be represented by the Girls Sports Club, which will take part in shooting, karate and archery, while Palestine will participate through the Al Wasl Volleyball Club and Al Wusta Archery Club.
Libya will be represented by Al Quds Equestrian Club, Al Istiqlal Athletics Club and Bait Al Magdis Karate Club, while Oman will field Sahar Volleyball Club, Qurayyat Shooting Club and Reyadhat Athletics. Kuwait is participating in volleyball, basketball, table tennis, athletics and karate, represented by Al Fatah Sporting Club. Iraq’s Beshmarka Sports Club will compete in karate, athletics and archery.
Lebanon, Morocco and Djibouti are each represented by one club in the volleyball competition; Lebanon’s Al Qamatia Volleyball Club, Djibouti’s Telcom Volleyball Club and Morocco’s Zanata Al Shallalat Volleyball Club.
