Pan Arab Games

The Arab Games (Arabic: الألعاب العربية‎), also called the Pan Arab Games, are a regional multi-sport event held between nations from the Arab world. They are organized by the Union of Arab National Olympic Committees. The first Games took place in 1953 in Alexandria, Egypt. Intended to be held every four years since, political turmoil as well as financial difficulties have made the event an unstable one. Women were first allowed to compete in 1985.^[1]

History[]

The Arab Games were the brainchild of Abdul Rahman Hassan Azzam, the first General Secretary of the Arab League (1945–1952). In 1947, Azzam submitted a memorandum to the League, advocating a multi-sport tournament which involved the participation of all Arab countries.

According to Azzam, sport serves as the best way to connect the youth of Arab countries and enable them to build the future of the Arab identity. As a common favorite of young individuals, sports tournaments encourage them to reach out across boundaries, bond with fellow Arabs, and eliminate differences among them. In the same vein, Azzam announced that the youth of the larger Arab nation is eager to gather all the dispersed Arab sports in an annual tournament which will be held in one of the Arab cities.

However, the Arab Games tournament did not gain official approval until 1953, when Ahmed El Demerdash Touny, an Egyptian national and a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), managed to convince the concerned parties within the Arab League that an Arab Games tournament would be instrumental to the overall success of the Arab identity. In response to Touny's proposal, the Arab League agreed on establishing the Arab Games, making Egypt the first country to organise an Arab Games tournament, which was held in the city of Alexandria from 26 July, – 10 August 1953. Eight Arab nations and Indonesia competed in the first Arab Games tournament.

The 2011 Games started in Doha on 9 December with the Emir Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani inaugurating the event at the Khalifa International Stadium.^[2]

Complications[]

Typically the games are to take place every four years; however, the last Arab Games were held in 2011 and because of the recent events in the Middle East the games have been postponed with no set date in sight. Initially Lebanon was set to host the 2015 XIII Pan Arab Games, but "withdrew because of the crisis in the Middle East".^[3] Following Beirut's withdrawal Morocco was then chosen to host the games, but faced financial complications and also withdrew. "Mohamed Ouzzine, Morocco's Minister of Youth and Sports [at the time, wrote to] the Union of Arab National Olympic Committees (UANOC) telling them that they would be withdrawing."^[3]

The same year, Egypt volunteered to host the event. "Sheikh Khalid Al Zubair, chairman of the Oman Olympic Committee (OOC)" said, "We will be offering our full support to Egypt and we have also taken a decision to suspend the financial regulations and other requirements due to lack of time."^[4] Had the UANOC accepted Egypt's proposition the games would have taken place in December 2015; however, no such event was held and there have been no formal statements made in regards to the possibility of future games.

Because of the current events in the Middle East there is no telling when the next Arab Games will take place or what country may host the games. If the UANOC keeps the same schedule for holding the games every four years the next games would have taken place in 2019 with an entirely new host country and no reference to the mishap of the 2015 Arab Games.

Editions[]

1953

1973, 1997

1961

1965, 2007

1976, 1992

1985

1999

2004

2011

Host cities of the Pan Arab Games

Year	Games	Host nation	Host city	Dates	Nations	Competitors			Sports	Events	Top on medal table
						Men	Women	Total
1953	1	Egypt	Alexandria	26 July – 10 August	9	650	—	650	10		Egypt
1957	2	Lebanon	Beirut	13 – 27 October	10	914	—	914	12		Lebanon
1961	3	Morocco	Casablanca	24 August – 8 September	9	1127	—	1127	11		United Arab Republic*
1965	4	United Arab Republic	Cairo	2 – 14 September	14	1500	—	1500	13		United Arab Republic**
1976	5	Syria	Damascus	6 – 21 October	11	2174	—	2174	18		Syria
1985	6	Morocco	Rabat	24 August – 8 September	17			3442	18		Morocco
1992	7	Syria	Damascus	4 – 18 September	18			2611	14		Syria
1997	8	Lebanon	Beirut	13 – 27 July	18			3253	22		Egypt
1999	9	Jordan	Amman	15 – 31 August	21			5504	26		Egypt
2004	10	Algeria	Algiers	24 September – 10 October	22			5525	32		Algeria
2007	11	Egypt	Cairo	11 – 26 November	22			6000	32		Egypt
2011	12	Qatar	Doha	9 – 23 December[5]	21			6000	33		Egypt
2015	Canceled	Lebanon	Beirut	21 August – 4 September
2021		Iraq[6]	Baghdad	Dates TBA[7]
2025		Lebanon	Beirut

• * United Arab Republic with Egypt and Syria.
• ** United Arab Republic with Egypt only.

Sports[]

37 sports were presented in the Pan Arab Games history.

Sport Years Athletics (details) since 1953 Archery () since 1953 Badminton (details) since 1999 Basketball (details) since 1953 Bodybuilding () since 1999 Boxing (details) since 1953 Bowling () since 2007 Bridge () () since 1999 Camel racing () since 2007 Cue Sports since 2011 Chess () () since 1999 Cycling () since 1957 Diving () since ....

Sport Years Equestrian () since 1957 Fencing () since 1953 Finswimming () since 1999 Football (details) since 1953 Golf () since 1985 Gymnastics () since 1953 Handball (details) since 1961 Judo () since 1976 Karate () since 1976 Kickboxing () since 1999 Modern pentathlon () since 2007 Rowing () since 1957

Sport Years Sailing () since 1985 Shooting () since 1953 Squash () since 1999 Surfing () since 1999 Swimming () since 1953 Table tennis () since 1976 Taekwondo () since 1997 Tennis () since 1961 Volleyball (details) since 1957 Water polo () since 1961 Weightlifting () since 1953 Wrestling () since 1953

All-time medal table[]

Below is the medal table of the Arab Games tournaments, up until the 12th tournament 2011.

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Egypt (EGY)	542	409	348	1299
2	Syria (SYR)	279	228	282	789
3	Tunisia (TUN)	257	210	274	741
4	Morocco (MAR)	255	220	257	732
5	Algeria (ALG)	217	253	290	760
6	United Arab Republic (UAR)	122	74	49	245
7	Lebanon (LIB)	78	119	123	320
8	Iraq (IRQ)	77	116	151	344
9	Qatar (QAT)	65	72	85	222
10	Jordan (JOR)	63	96	79	238
11	Saudi Arabia (KSA)	55	85	115	255
12	United Arab Emirates (UAE)	26	29	42	97
13	Bahrain (BHR)	24	19	27	70
14	Kuwait (KUW)	20	23	46	89
15	Libya (LBA)	18	26	42	86
16	Sudan (SUD)	16	35	29	80
17	Oman (OMN)	14	14	22	50
18	Palestine (PLE)	5	29	60	94
19	Yemen (YEM)	5	7	15	27
20	Djibouti (DJI)	1	2	1	4
21	Somalia (SOM)	0	4	1	5
22	Comoros (COM)	0	0	0	0
	Mauritania (MTN)	0	0	0	0
Totals (23 nations)		2139	2070	2338	6547

• * The United Arab Republic (1958–1971) contains 2 countries Egypt & Syria.

** Yemen including North Yemen and South Yemen.

See also[]

• African Games
• Asian Games
• GCC Games

References[]

• Bell, Daniel (2003). Encyclopedia of International Games. McFarland and Company, Inc. Publishers, Jefferson, North Carolina. ISBN 0-7864-1026-4.

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Pan Arab Games.

• Athletics medalists
• Arab Games 2007 website
• Arab Games 2011 official website
• Arab Games 2011 Exhibition and Timeline