Yemeni Tae-Kwon-Do star Wada'ah Abdulmalik Alwan started an intensive training program last month under the supervision of the national trainer, Mutahhar Al-Odhari. The intensive training is in preparation for the international championship, and in hopes of qualifying for the Sydney 2000 Olympic games. The Yemeni national team will also be participating in the Tae-Kwon-Do World Cup in July 1999, and the gold medalists in this event will automatically qualify for the Sidney games. 

In another sport, Yemeni wrestler Abdullah Al-Azzani has also started his training under the supervision of his Iraqi trainer Ra'ad. Al-Azzani will be participating in Wrestling World Cup, which will be held in Uzbekistan this September. Again, the winner of this championship automatically qualifies for the Olympic games in Sidney. 
There will be other chances for the players to qualify for the Sydney Olympics, but this is the first big one, and it is a major competition in its own right. The athlete's training program is being sponsored by the International Olympic Committee in order to boost Yemen's efforts in preparing for the 2000 Olympic Games in Australia. 

 

After a vigorous competition with the best Arab Chess players, the Chess Team of Al-Wahda Sanaa was able to attain 4th place in the overall Chess rankings of the first Arab Chess Championship held in Al-Sharqiye Club of Egypt last week. Al-Wahda of Sanaa was the only team representing Yemen. Ten teams representing ten Arab countries participated in the championship. 
These teams were: 
1-Al-Sharqiye of Egypt 
2-Beirut University - Lebanon 
3-Dubai Chess Club - UAE 
4-Doha Chess Club - Qatar 
5-Al-Wahda of Sanaa 
6-Al-Majd of Syria 
7-Olympic of Algeria 
8-Post Service Chess Club of Egypt 
9-Royal Jordanian Club 
10-Palestinian Jerusalem Employees Club 

The competition was held under the Swiss rules, where every team had to play 9 games. Ahli Sanaa was able to earn 17.5 points in their nine games, which earned them a tie for fourth with the Syrian Al-Majd Club. Al-Wahda might have been able to reach second if not for the professional Russian chess-masters who were playing for the Dubai and Doha Clubs. These clubs have sufficient resources to hire professionals, which none of the other clubs did. The International Master Hameed Al-Qadhi, a member of the Yemeni team, won second place and the silver medal in the individual competition. This is the first medal that Yemen has earned in 1999. However, Zindan Al-Zindani lost his chance at the bronze medal due to mental exhaustion from playing two rounds every day. This was something that the Yemenis were not prepared for, and it hurt several of the players. Yahya Faraj of Al-Wahda was able to obtain a draw with mighty players such as the Russian professional chess-master Von Joltiny who plays and trains in Doha Chess Club of Qatar. He was also able to gain a draw in a game with the Syrian Imad Haqqi, and defeated last year's Egyptian chess champion, Wala Tharwat. 

The head of Al-Wahda Club Chess Team spoke to the Yemen Times: 
"The competition in this championship was quite strong, especially for us Yemenis, who had not had much experience with this system of two rounds per day. Each round lasted more than 5 hours without a break. I think that if not for the harsh system and the professional Russian players, we could have gained a much better result. As it was, we did quite well. But of course, the most fascinating thing about this championship is the wonderful coordination and love I witnessed from my other Arab brothers." 

 

The Youth and Sports Office in Sanaa is suffering a lot of problems that are creating obstacles to any improvements of sports in Yemen. Not only is this the case in Sanaa, but it is the case in all other areas in the republic. Many sportsmen are complaining about the mismanagement and the poor position of sports in the current government. They are dissatisfied with the insignificant budget allocated by the Ministry of Sports for sports activities. This leads to a deteriorating level of sports in Yemen as a whole, and particularly for athletic sports, which are not given enough attention. 
Abbas Al-Madoomy, the manager of the Youth and Sports Club in Sanaa is a young and ambitious person. He is trying hard and struggling to achieve the best he can in spite of the lack of financial resources, and other important elements. His only option in trying to improve the sports services, is only workable if he concentrates on the sports events that he handles, and works very hard for their success. 

In an interview with Yemen Times, Mr. Al-Madoomi explained his ambitions, and the problems, role, and ambitions of his office in all details. 
Excerpts: 

Q: How do you assess the role of the Capital Secretariat Sport Office ( CSSO) compared with the other offices in the governorates in developing sport activities? 
A: Given its near location from the main headquarters of decision making in the Capital, the CSSO plays an important role in improving sport activities not only in the Capital but in the whole Yemen. The office is closely related to the different Sports Clubs based in Sanaa. The office has paid a number of field inspections visits to these clubs and has found them facing many problems. Take for example Alwahda Club, one of the leading clubs in Sanaa. Yet this club doesn't have even the minimum required number of halls and playing fields. Al-Zuhra Club is also struggling to take possession of its state-granted land and now this Club has been warned to move from its present location. The situation is not much better with Al-Sha'ab, or Al-Majid Clubs. However there are Clubs which have their own resources and therefore were able to build their sport facilities. Al-Ahli of Sanaa is doing very well in this regard thanks to its excellent administration. Al-Yarmouk comes second as a self financed sports club. Other clubs like Hemyer, Kadissya and Majd are fighting to survive because some tribes often occupy their own pieces of land. It is bad to see the youths playgrounds turned into battlefield. 

Q: What are the steps you have been taking to improve the situation? 
A: We have submitted some proposals to the Minister of Youth and Sports and we are working on bringing them into effect. The most important proposal is the construction of training centers for the different sports. These centers would be covering several governorates and the Sport Unions would supervise them. In fact the costs of such construction are not very high and they can be financed through Youth and Sport Assistance Fund. I think this step is the right one to begin with. 

Q: Is there coordination with the Ministry of Education to back sports infrastructure through arranging joint sport activities and School competitions? 
A: When Dr. Yahya Shu'aybi became Minister of Education he did a lot of coordination with the Ministry of Youth and Sports to refresh School Sports. In many countries in the world school is the first cell for sport activities. Many of the world famous athletes were discovered first in schools. In the Capital Secretariat, we did some cooperation with School Activity Department in the Ministry of Education and we were able to discover a number of different games. Some of them have already become members of national teams in sports like basketball, boxing and others. 

Q: How do you overcome the problem of inavailability of sufficient stadiums and sports halls? 
A: Well, we train in shifts, with evening and morning classes. In spite of our limited resources, our ambition knows no limits. Sport has not improved even after forming the Ministry of youth and sports. Sportsmen suffer from this carelessness, they need to be sponsored. We are quite optimistic about the future. 

Q: What is the role of the Youth Aid Fund in developing sports? 
A: Frankly speaking, the fund carries out many good projects for clubs all over the country. At the moment they are concentrating on establishing commercial projects for clubs to help them finance their activities and become self-sufficient. But if you look at the Yemeni sports in general, it is a very sad story. We hope the sports minister will respond to the importance of building sports complexes, and encourage young people to make use of these complexes, so that we can have a good base of young sportsmen, who will be the future champions of Yemen. Young people should become our first priority, if we really want to uplift the standards of Yemeni sports. 

Q: Do you think foreign coaches and trainers are the solution to promote Yemeni champions? 
A: You see, even if we try to bring the best coaches in the world he will not be able to do anything to lift up the spirit of our players. Sincere efforts by our sports authorities, such as giving the sportsmen the care and the attention they deserve can do wonders. We have to provide players with basic facilities first. What can a good coach do if he doesn't have fit players and no proper place and facilities to train them? Many of our promising young sportsmen leave their clubs for financial reasons. For example, I was the General Secretary of the Table Tennis Association in 1985, during that period we had real champions, like Ahmed Zaid, Ahmed Zubara, Al-Damari and Ali Qassem, all these people won golden and silver medals in the Arab competitions. Today we participate for the sake of participating, and not to compete and win. 

Q: Is there enough support for the centers activities? 
A: Each sport association gets YR. 10,000 to hold activities and organize tournaments. This amount does not cover the players' transport cost, so what do you expect? Now you can imagine where Yemeni sport is going! 

 

Arwa University will be organizing a special marathon on the 27th of April for students from Arwa University, Sanaa University and various high school students. This effort is made in coordination with the School Activity Administration in Sanaa and Sports administration of Sanaa University. Arwa University will also be organizing a number of Sports Events such as football, volleyball, Ping-Pong, and Chess matches. 
Currently, Arwa University is in heavy preparation for this marathon as well as the other events, and the organizers are collecting the prizes that will be distributed to the winners at the end of the marathon and the other sports events.