Bahrain set to mark Sports Day

Manama, Feb. 6 (BNA): Citizens and expatriates alike will celebrate the 2017 Bahrain Sports Day on Tuesday, with a variety of activities to be staged all over Bahrain. The Sports Day, a widely-spread occasion in Qatar and the UAE over the past years, is organized in Bahrain for the first time, but high expectations are in the air to see a tremendously successful event organized in different part of the kingdom. Open to all communities, this day-long event is organised by the Bahrain Olympic Committee (BOC) in cooperation with the Ministry of Youth and Sports Affairs and Bahrain’s four governorates. The Bahrain Sport Day was approved as a national event organized every year and involves all segments of the Bahrain society. This event has brought all the attention of the Bahrain Olympic Committee, which seeks to activate the Olympic noble principles. These principles aim to promote public health among the communities by having a sport day open to all sectors of the country in an initiative to motivate people to work out and instill the culture of sport as a healthy lifestyle. It is also a move that aims to promote the principles of community sport and expanding the number of participation in different activities to assert the famous proverb ‘A sound mind in a sound body’. This year’s maiden event will see more than 10 ministries, four governorates, 28 sports federations, national and expatriate sports clubs in addition to the youth centres delivering a variety of sports and entertaining activities throughout the day in different locations across the kingdom. The main attraction of the day will be staged at the purpose-built Sport Village near the National Stadium at Isa Sports City in Riffa City, where set of programmes, including an open walkathon, are scheduled. These activities are organized by national sports federations. This walkathon will be open to all and covers 1.7km in total. Set to tip off at 4pm, the walkathon is organized in cooperation with the Bahrain Athletics Association’s Bahrain Road Runners. The Sports village will be divided into four different zones, bringing a rich set of activities today, with zone 1 hosting table tennis, athletics, mind sports, volleyball, badminton, hockey, disabilities sports, horse riding, 3x3 basketball, gymnastics, cross fit, weightlifting, mixed martial arts, self defence, sky diving, tennis, sailing, folk games and other recreation games. Zone 2 will have cricket matches, Zone 3 features football and Spartan sports, while running and cycling races will be at Zone 4. Meanwhile, Southern Governor, Bahrain Olympic Committee member and Organising Committee chairman Shaikh Abdulla bin Rashid Al Khalifa made a field visit to the Sports Village, where he inspected the facilities and other arrangements at the venue ahead of the event. Ministries are also bringing a number of programmes to contribute to the event. Contributing authorities include the Interior Ministry, Bahrain Defence Force, Education ministry, Information Affairs Ministry, Health ministry, Foreign Ministry, Transports Ministry, Works Ministry, Ministry of Labour and Social Development, Municipalities Affairs and Urban Planning, Housing Ministry, Gulf University, University of Bahrain, Capital Governorate, Northern Governorate, Muharraq Governorate and Southern Governorate. All ministries and government departments have allocated half of the working hours today for sports activities to mark the National Sports Day. This decision is in compliance to the announcement of His Royal Highness the Prime Minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa during the most recent cabinet meeting. The event is as per decision from their highnesses Presidents of National GCC Olympics Committee to allocate a national sport day organized in all over the Gulf region and engage kids and adults of all segments of the Bahrain society. It’s supported by Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa, representative of His Majesty the King for Charity Works and Youth Affairs, Supreme Council for Youth and Sports Chairman, and Bahrain Olympic Committee President