Yemeni sports have had a challenging journey since the first time a Yemeni team participated in an international competition until today. The first international participation was when the Republic of Yemen football team participated in the Arab Football competitions in Cairo* Egypt in the early seventies. Al-Tilal Football Club in Aden is considered one of the oldest in the region* and has participated in many regional and international competitions.Table tennis was the highlight of Yemeni sports* when sportsman Ahmed Zaid won regional championships for the country.Women?s sports officially started in Yemen in the year of 2000 in Aden* when women were encouraged to participate in Chess and Judo. Yemeni athletes in Judo have won regional contests and they were from Aden. Naseem Ahmad al-Milaiki* Head of the Woman and Sports Group at the Yemeni Olympic Committee commented that the movement of women?s sports in Yemen has had a long history dating back to the period prior to the foreign occupation. Yemeni girls from the southern cities have reached advanced positions at the Arab and regional levels in different Olympic games. After a suspension of women?s sports which lasted for a few years* women?s sport activities restarted once again in 2005* and were practiced by large numbers of Yemeni ladies all around the country. The most important games currently practiced by ladies are chess* table tennis* volleyball* handball* basketball* judo* and gymnastics.According to Mansour al-Jaradi* a sports analyst* Yemeni sportswomen face various challenges in their pursuit of sports because of traditions* financial support* lack of female teams and lack of specialists in women?s sports among many other issues. Al-Jaradi pointed out that the complete failure to administer sports in the Ministry of Youth & Sports is a basic reason for why women?s sports have not had their share of attention. "Merging all women?s associations into one association has failed to develop women's sports"* he said.Because of lack of financing* inadequate coaching and a sedentary lifestyle imposed by long hours of qat chewing daily sessions* not many Yemenis have had the opportunity to practice or take up sports as a profession.For women* it is even worse. Because Yemeni society is traditional* male-dominated and conservative* women face obstacles in all fields* especially those that have to do with the public domain. Luxury or professionEven though there are a few successful examples of Yemeni women in the sports field* the fact remains that they have taken to this field as a hobby. The society and even concerned authorities share this view* mainly because there are more urgent priorities that the country faces in terms of health services* education and employment. The practice of sports is still considered a form of luxury in Yemen rather than a serious profession.Amatal Al-Rahman Jahaf* chairwoman of the Women?s Association of Sports in Taiz and the headmistress of Arwa School* said that women's sports in Yemen are neglected. "We lack financial support* female trainers* and adequate infrastructure* such as closed sports halls* are only a few of the reasons why there are not many women in Yemen who practice sports*" she said.She added that sports as a subject is not included in the curricula in schools* and if there is a sports class the students are usually left to wander in the school yard doing nothing. "Schools are the first place to discover and nurture talents*" she explained.Jahaf said that society does not have an awareness of the significance of sports for health. "Society rejects and prevents women from playing sports* because it would mean going outdoors*" she added. Mohammad Amin Ghaleb* the General Secretary of "Sport for All" program in Taiz* agreed that the main obstacles against women sports are lack of financial support* sports-covered halls* and female teams. "There is not enough equipment for sportswomen"* he said.An investigation revealed that Yemeni sportswomen were reluctant to answer questions about female sports* although one sportswoman* on condition of anonymity* admitted that Yemeni sportswomen do face a lot of problems. "Most Yemeni clubs do not care about the women athletics; or rather* they eliminate the women's sports from their activities. Women athletics lack support* society has a negative perception of sportswomen*" she said. Different perceptions: Many younger Yemenis have a more positive attitude towards sports in general and women's sports in particular. "We watch them on many satellite channels* even Al-Jazeerah Sports Channel and we see many women from Muslim countries participating in sports. I have even seen women wearing Hijab running tracks*" said Basma Abdulmajeed* an 11th grade student.As to whether she would like to follow their example* she said she would rather play table tennis because her brother had taught her table tennis and she could practice it in many clubs in Sana'a.Hani Al-Shaibani* a 24 year-old student* said that he does not object to women playing sports* but he objects to where they should play sports* "If we do not accept women to work outside home* how can we accept that they play sports outside the home?" he wondered. He concluded that women should do exercises at homes.But Jalal Saleh* a 27 year-old accountant* went further when he said women should never play sports at all. "Sports are for men only"* he said* "and there is no room for women to play sports* because no one can be convinced to show his sisters or daughters to others*" he explained. On the other hand* Sahar Abdu Ali* a 21-year-old student* said that she could not practice sports because of the society's outlook towards women. Asked whether she could do exercises at home or not* she said no. A general problem?Al-Jaradi said that women's sports would never be developed unless the mindsets of those administering the Ministry of Youth & Sports changes. He said that there should be a conscious vision of how to administer the Associations. "Women?s athletics will never develop unless men?s athletics develop*" he said.But Mohammad Ghaleb said that to overcome the major obstacles* there should be more financial support. "If there is financial support* we can establish covered sports halls* provide athletic equipments* and train female teams and specialists*" he said.Adding to the list of recommendations* Jahaf suggested that attention must be given to including sports in education for both boys and girls. She pointed out that Islam urges Muslims to train children in sports* as the Prophet (PBUH) said* "Train your children in archery* swimming* and horse riding". She explained that "children" here indicates both boys and girls....

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