CAIRO: The General Assembly of the Arab Modern Pentathlon Union has nominated the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Kuwaiti Modern Pentathlon Union, Nasser Al-Waleed, for the post of first Vice-President of the Union. Al-Waleed said in a statement to the Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) on Monday that the General Assembly of the Arab Union was held in Alexandria in the presence of representatives of 10 Arab countries out of a total of 15 countries including Kuwait, Libya, Syria, Sudan, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Bahrain, Iraq in addition to Egypt (the headquarters).

He explained that the association concluded its work last Saturday by choosing a new board of directors headed by engineer Walid Khalil from Egypt. He added that the council includes Dr Huda Al Matrooshi (UAE); Obaid Al Hammour (Sudan); Fathi Youssef (Libya); Ibrahim Zein (Lebanon) and Omar Ashour (Syria); with a seat reserved for Palestine according to a regulation to be determined later, as well as a seat for Qatar to be determined later.

Al-Waleed stressed the importance of reviving the Arab Federation of Modern Pentathlon, especially which the Arab countries have begun in establishing players in the sport of modern pentathlon. He continued, “We are honored that Kuwait was the one who raised this file to reactivate this important entity and for our expertise International and local achievements in sports have earned us the trust of the General Assembly and now we are striving to hold the Arab Championships in Modern Pentathlon this year”.

He expressed thanks to the Kuwaiti Olympic Committee headed by Sheikh Fahd Nasser Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah and vice president Sheikh Mubarak Faisal Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah for its continuous support to the youth of Kuwait as well as its support for the establishment of modern pentathlon sport in Kuwait.

The meeting was attended by the President of the International Federation of Modern Pentathlon, Dr Klaus Schurman, the president of the Federation of African Sports Federations (OXA), Major General Ahmed Nasser, the president of the Egyptian Federation of Modern Pentathlon, the vice president of the International Federation of the game, engineer Sherif El-Erian, the President of African Union of Modern Pentathlon Seydou Sylvestre Zari.

The modern pentathlon sport is one of the composite sports consisting of five games practiced by one player and performed in one day, namely (archery, sword fencing, swimming, equestrian, cross-country). The participant receives certain points according to the result he achieves in each competition and the players are ranked according to what points they get. - KUNA