8 Iraqi athletes play in 2nd Asian Beach Games in Oman

OMAN, IraqiNews.com: Iraq sent eight athletes to the 2nd Annual Asian Beach Games in this Arabian Gulf country, where more than 2,000 athletes from 45 countries are competing in a variety of sporting events, including sailing, volleyball, open water swimming and kabaddi. The athletes from Iraq are participating in three events at the games: marathon swimming, body building and tent pegging, an equestrian sport. The games run Dec. 8 to Dec. 16 here in Oman, a country widely recognized for successfully melding traditional culture with modern amenities under its leader, Sultan Qaboos bin Said. Oman is celebrating 40 years of renaissance this year, marking the anniversary when Sultan Qaboos assumed the leadership of the country from his father after a coup. In the evening chill of the opening ceremony on Dec. 8, the Iraqi athletes and their coaches marched under their flag into a new stadium built for the games in Al Musannah, north of the Omani capital of Muscat. The sprawling sports city has hotels, apartments for athletes, a fitness center and a large international broadcast center. The opening ceremony was not open to the public, but the sporting events are free. Although both men and women compete in the Asian Beach Games, Iraq only sent male athletes for the international competition. Performers and acrobats pranced on the stage on the opening night in a colorful display of traditional and modern dance. A towering crane suspended swirling acrobats, who did somersaults as colorful smoke and fireworks went off in the harbor. The hour-long performance featured a poetic monologue set to music before riders on Arabian horses trotted into the stadium to stand before Omani men dressed in white dishdahas and colorful scarves, silver daggers at their waists, and Omani women decked in vibrant robes and the lihaf, the traditional Omani headdress. The 14 sporting events began the next morning on Dec. 9 and will be held at eight venues around Muscat. Ahmed Tayawi, a swimmer from Baghdad, placed No. 13 in the first marathon swimming competition, finishing in 1:03:59. As he emerged from the Oman Sea, his coach, Faisel Al Husseini, wrapped him in an Iraqi flag. A Syrian swimmer won the 5K race. Tayawi has been practicing in an indoor pool in Baghdad because the river is too cold, Al Husseini said, also noting that Iraqi athletes who train within the country counter numerous obstacles, including blocked roads and bombings. For the Asian Games, Tayawi must swim in the open waters of the Oman Sea, clear, jade waters with temperatures of about 27 degrees. Asked how he felt about his race, Tayawi shrugged and smiled. He had not come in last. The first games were played in 2008 in Indonesia. Held every two years and sponsored by the Olympic Council of Asia, the next games will be in 2012 in China. This is the largest international sporting event ever held in the Sultanante of Oman. Oman hosted the GCC Gulf Cup last year. JS/AmR 307