22 May 2006 - FITA President opens FITA's Middle East Archery Center

FITA President opens FITA's Middle East Archery Center

Lausanne – 22 May 2006

The FITA President, Dr Ugur Erdener, accompanied by the Secretary General, Mr Tom Dielen, and the Development & Education Director, Mr Pascal Colmaire opened the newly established Training Centre in Cairo, Egypt.

This center, generously hosted by the Wadi Degla Sporting Club, is a key tool for the development of archery in the region. FITA expects this centre to be a top host to national teams from the region and encourages team to prepare the Olympic Games of Beijing in this centre. FITA has hired the renowned coach Kim Jeong-Ho from Korea to run the center and he is available for the visiting teams. Coach Kim is also working with the Egyptian team and will soon host archers from Libya, Croatia, Iran and many other countries. In addition, with the cooperation of Olympic Solidarity, coaches from Algeria and Tunisia will learn the basic tools from Coach Kim.

The opening of the centre was attended by the representatives of the Ministry of Sport, the Egyptian Federation, the Wadi Degla Sports club, the Libyan Federation and the NOC of Sudan.

“Egypt has a very long Archery history going and Archery was the pharaoh’s favorite royal exhibition sport of the 18th dynasty. The composite bows found in Tutankhamen’s tomb show this very well. The Egyptian Archery Federation is quite young but has already had the pleasure of having archers at the Olympic Games.

We are convinced that this centre will help the development of archery in the region and the world and we were very please when Coach Kim Jeong-Ho accepted this challenge to become the coach at this centre. My wish is that this centre will have hosted one medalist at the London Olympic Games which will show its importance to the Archery and Olympic family”, said Dr Ugur Erdener as part of his opening speech.

The FITA Secretary General, Tom Dielen, stated that “This centre is a unique opportunity for the North of Africa and the Middle East Region. Its role in the further development of Archery in the Mediterranean Games is essential and this will also assist archery to reinforce its position in the Olympic Games.”

For further information on this center, please contact:

Mr Pascal Colmaire

Email: pcolmaire@archery.org

Fax: +41 (21) 614 30 55