Jordan Times
Wednesday, June 23, 1999
King opens indoor stadium
By Aleen Bannayan
AMMAN — His Majesty King Abdullah II on Tuesday inaugurated the new multi-purpose indoor stadium at Al Hussein Youth City — the main venue of the 9th Pan-Arab Games which open here Aug. 15.
The 7,500-seat capacity arena was built at an estimated cost of JD5 million and is the main facility that was constructed for the Games alongside the Olympic-size swimming pool.
HRH Prince Faisal, president of the Higher Organising Committee of the Games toured the 13,600-square-metre facility with King Abdullah and also visited the new site for the equestrian track which is still under construction.
The indoor stadium will host volleyball, handball, basketball, badminton, gymnastics, table tennis, and bowling events.
The project, undertaken by the Greater Amman Municipality and constructed in a record 220 days, also includes a media and medical centre, and rooms for use by coaches and referees.
Twenty countries have so far confirmed participation in the Games and Jordan is hoping that all 22 Arab states will take part in the event — renamed Al Hussein Tournament in memory of the late King.
The Arab countries still not confirmed are Djibouti and the Comoros Islands. Jordan has invited them to take part and will also bear all expenses of small delegations from Somalia and Mauritania to ensure a comprehensive Arab participation.
Kuwait on the other hand, which had refused to participate in the presence of Iraq, lately agreed to dispatch a cabinet minister to attend the event, backtracking on its earlier outright boycott threat.
The emirate has not approved sending its athletes but decided to dispatch a symbolic delegation to attend the inauguration of the Games followed talks Minister of Youth and Sports Mohammad Kheir Mamsar held with Kuwaiti officials.
The Kingdom has had to bear a heavy financial burden because it had to prepare the Games in less than 20 months after the decision to move the Games back to 1999 instead of 2001 to avoid coinciding with the Mediterranean Games.
There has been no direct aid apart from $500,000 in sponsorship from the Council of Arab Sports Ministers while UAE TV announced that it will lend Jordan Television the necessary equipment to cover the event estimated at around JD6 million.
The Games are estimated to cost nearly JD28 million and around JD3.5 million is expected in revenue.
The last Arab Games of the century will include 27 of 62 Olympic events and will be followed by the 1st Arab Paralympics which will be held Sept. 9-20.
The Pan-Arab Games have only been held eight times: Alexandria in 1953, Beirut 1957, Casablanca 1961, Cairo 1965, Damascus 1976, Morocco 1985, Damascus 1992 and Beirut 1997.