São Paulo – Athletes from Saudi Arabia and Qatar will participate in the Gymnasiade 2013, a global school games contest due from November 27th to December 4th in Brasília. Held by the International School Sport Federation (ISF), it is the world’s leading competition for schools, and will have participants from over 30 different countries, according to information released by the Sports Secretariat of the government of the Federal District, which takes part in organizing the games.
The ISF invites different countries and each of them chooses how it will go about selecting the adolescents to compete in the Gymnasiade. The contest is for students in public and private schools, as well as school sports clubs, aged 14 to 17.
According to the Sports Secretariat of the Federal District, Saudi Arabia has not informed the categories in which it will compete. Qatar registered by way of the Qatar Sports School Federation, in the categories male athletics, female and male artistic gymnastics, female rhythmic gymnastics, male swimming, and male aerobic gymnastics. The delegation will comprise 30 people and will be led by Abdulrahman Almuftah.
In addition to the two Arab countries, students from the following countries will compete: Armenia, Belgium, Belarus, Bulgaria, Cape Verde, China, Taipei, Cyprus, Denmark, Ecuador, Scotland, Spain, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Guatemala, Hungary, India, England, Israel, Italy, Luxemburg, Mexico, Paraguay, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Republic of Moldova, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine. The Gymnasiade is being held in the American continent for the first time ever.
The contest will include eight modalities: athletics, aerobic, artistic and rhythmic gymnastics, swimming, judo, karate and chess. The three winners in each category will win medals, according to the Federal District Sports Secretariat. The federal capital was shortlisted by the ISF alongside Palma de Mallorca, Spain, and won. The games have a mascot called Gymi, whose name was chosen by students and athletes in the Federal District.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
