President Saleh attends opening ceremony of 11th Pan-Arab Games in Cairo

CAIRO, Nov. 11 (Saba) – President Ali Abdullah Saleh attended on Sunday evening the opening ceremony of 11th Pan-Arab Games that is being hosted by Egypt and would last until November 25 with participation of 22 Arab countries among them Yemen. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak inaugurated the opening ceremony in the Cairo International Stadium with participation of Sudanese President Omer al-Bashir, Jordanian King Abdallah II, Iraqi President Jalal Talibani, the Chairman of the Palestinian National Authority Mahmoud Abbas and the Arab League secretary-general Amr Moussa. The 11th Pan-Arab Games includes 33 games, with 8,000 athletes from Egypt, Mauritania, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, UAE, Oman, Yemen, Djibouti, Somalia, and the Comoro Islands taking part. The games, which will be held in seven Egyptian provinces, will include games like soccer, rowing, taekwondo, bowling, squash, boxing, karate, chess, ground and table tennis, volleyball and handball. The idea of holding an Pan-Arab Games was first introduced in 1947, but was officially approved by the Arab League in 1953. Egypt hosted the first games in August of that same year. Yemen participates in the 11th Pan-Arab Games with a high-rank and large delegation headed by the Minister of Youth and Sports Mahmud Ubad along with over 150 athletes. AH/AF Saba