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Vinay Nayudu
Doha
Gymnastics has now become a part of Arab sporting culture with many athletes from the Middle East performing consistently well at the world level and the sport being followed widely, feels Mohamad Behbehani, the Secretary-General of Arab Gymnastics Federation.
In Doha to witness the 12th Artistic Gymnastics World Cup which concluded at the Aspire Dome on Saturday, Behbehani of Kuwait said he was delighted to see the performance of Arab gymnasts and the large turn-out of spectators.
“The level of performance of athletes from the Arab region in artistic gymnastics has gone up. It’s not like earlier when it was about just participating. Now the gymnasts from this region are quite on par and aim to take one of the three places on the podium.
“Considering that this was the World Cup series and also at the world championships, the effort is highly appreciable of these athletes and hopefully we shall find them on the podium more often than not,” said Behbehani.
Highlighting the good show of some of Middle East gymmasts, he said, “If you see at this World Cup, gymnasts from the Middle East and Ali Zahran of Egypt were impressive in the finals against some of the best of the world. Ibrahim Colak of Turkey on Still Rings, and Saeedreza Keikha of Iran on Pommel Horse, I thought, were exceptional.
“I also hope that we will be seeing more gymnasts from the Middle East at the world championships next March and at the Tokyo Olympics in 2020.”
Behbehani stressed that the success of the sport in the region has been due to the consistent successful hosting of world events in the last decade.
“There has also been a great acceptance of the sport of gymnastics and the crowds during the World Cup at the Aspire Dome have been a testimony of that. It’s a great sign. It also shows that people in the Middle East like and follow gymnastics. It has also become a part of people’s culture in this region with many young kids wanting to take up gymnastics,” he said.
Doha
Gymnastics has now become a part of Arab sporting culture with many athletes from the Middle East performing consistently well at the world level and the sport being followed widely, feels Mohamad Behbehani, the Secretary-General of Arab Gymnastics Federation.
In Doha to witness the 12th Artistic Gymnastics World Cup which concluded at the Aspire Dome on Saturday, Behbehani of Kuwait said he was delighted to see the performance of Arab gymnasts and the large turn-out of spectators.
“The level of performance of athletes from the Arab region in artistic gymnastics has gone up. It’s not like earlier when it was about just participating. Now the gymnasts from this region are quite on par and aim to take one of the three places on the podium.
“Considering that this was the World Cup series and also at the world championships, the effort is highly appreciable of these athletes and hopefully we shall find them on the podium more often than not,” said Behbehani.
Highlighting the good show of some of Middle East gymmasts, he said, “If you see at this World Cup, gymnasts from the Middle East and Ali Zahran of Egypt were impressive in the finals against some of the best of the world. Ibrahim Colak of Turkey on Still Rings, and Saeedreza Keikha of Iran on Pommel Horse, I thought, were exceptional.
“I also hope that we will be seeing more gymnasts from the Middle East at the world championships next March and at the Tokyo Olympics in 2020.”
Behbehani stressed that the success of the sport in the region has been due to the consistent successful hosting of world events in the last decade.
“There has also been a great acceptance of the sport of gymnastics and the crowds during the World Cup at the Aspire Dome have been a testimony of that. It’s a great sign. It also shows that people in the Middle East like and follow gymnastics. It has also become a part of people’s culture in this region with many young kids wanting to take up gymnastics,” he said.
