Very popular Fair Play stand in Riyadh
In mid-April Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, hosted the FIE World Junior and Cadet Fencing Championships. The International Fair Play Committee was present at the nine-day tournament for the umpteenth time.
Hardly a day goes by that we don't hear about Saudi Arabia investing heavily in sport, whether it's attracting world stars or hosting international tournaments. The FIE World Junior and Cadet Fencing Championships, which took place from 11-20 April, were the first international fencing competition of this caliber in the country. Although it was a competition for junior competitors, the World Championships were of particular importance in the year of the Olympics, with nearly 1500 competitors from 103 countries competing in the three disciplines, which is an outstanding number. Accordingly, the Fair Play stand was also very busy, with a thousand bracelets and two hundred badges being handed out to fencers, coaches and officials who tried out the games.
The International Fencing Federation (FIE) places great emphasis on the promotion of Fair Play, has its own committee that annually awards the FIE Fair Play prize, the Hungarian fencing team has received it in the past, and has a stand at the annual FIE Junior and Cadet World Fencing Championships, where it presents and educates the participants about the values of Fair Play. The joint presence with the International Fair Play Committee /CIFP/ goes back decades and, as stated in Riyadh, the two organizations will continue to work together in the future. At the recent event, Dr. Eyyad Maghayreh, FIE Fair Play Council member, and Gábor Deregán, CIFP Executive Director, ran the stand, together with very active and persistent local volunteers.
At the end of the tournament, Dr Jenő Kamuti, President of CIFP, two-time Olympic silver medalist and world champion fencer, visited Riyadh, where he was pleased to see the popularity of the Fair Play stand and the high quality of the tournament organization. During his stay, the President held a number of meetings with international leaders in fencing, including the FIE Vice President and Board members present.
The event was attended by Balázs Selmeci, Hungary's Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, who met, among others, with Elena Murdaca, Administrative Director of FIE and with dr. Henriette Tamás, Secreteray General of Hunfencing.
DG/CIFP, photo: BizziTeam; CIFP
