900 female athletes to participate in 2nd Arab Women Sports Tournament

Crescent Enterprises was today announced as a lead sponsor of the Arab Women Sports Tournament (AWST), a Sharjah-based event exclusively for female athletes from across the Arab world, which was established by Sheikha Jawaher Bint Mohammed Al Qasimi, wife of the ruler of Sharjah, Chair person of Sharjah Ladies Club.

This year’s tournament will bring together 900 female athletes from 14 countries including the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Palestine, Oman, Kuwait, Jordan, Egypt, and Iraq from February 2 - 12, 2014, to compete at various locations throughout Sharjah in a range of both traditional and modern sports.

This year marks the second Arab Women Sports Tournament, which welcomes almost double the number participants from the previous event, from across the Arab world to compete in basketball, volleyball, table tennis, shooting, and athletics as well as this year’s addition of fencing and archery.

"A little over 10 years ago, a tournament of this nature and caliber would have never been considered a possibility, but today, with the support and encouragement from Sharjah entities like Crescent Enterprises, who truly believe in what we are trying to achieve for Arab women on all levels of society, this concept has become a proud reality for us all,” said Nada Askar Al Naqbi, Head of Executive Committee and manager of Arab Women Sports Tournament (AWST).

Badr Jafar, Chief Executive Officer Crescent Enterprises and Managing Director of the Crescent Group commented: “This collaboration holds extreme personal significance for the Crescent Group. What we have witnessed with regard to the cultural and economic growth of Sharjah in the last decade has been incredible, which is why the addition of highly competitive female athletics to the agenda of the UAE’s development is just another reason to be proud of the successes and progressiveness of the Emirate and Country. We are privileged to support AWST in establishing a stage for Arab women to showcase their diverse talents as athletes, leaders and role models, and create a lasting legacy for our nation and its women and men.”

The Tournament was originally launched as a competition for Arab women from across the Gulf, under the title of the Gulf Countries Competition, but due to the success of the initial event, was later opened to Arab women across the Middle East as the Arab Women Sports Tournament. Official partners of the tournament include the Arab League, the National Olympic Committees and Unions in Arab countries, and the General Authority of Youth and Sports Welfare in the UAE. The opening ceremony for AWST will take place on February 2, 2014, at the Sharjah Ladies Club in Sharjah, UAE, followed by ten days of tournaments at various locations across Sharjah.

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