The Director General of the Interim Committee to Administer Sports in Iraq visits FISA Headquarters

Sheila Stephens with Mr. Tiras Odisho Anwaya
© FISA

The Director General of the Interim Committee to Administer Sports in Iraq Mr. Tiras Odisho Anwaya visited the FISA Headquarters today, 4 December 2003, to discuss with the FISA Executive Director Matt Smith and FISA Development Programme Project Manager Sheila Stephens the re-establishment of rowing in Iraq.

Iraq’s National Canoe and Rowing Federation has already produced some talented canoe athletes. They, as is well known, have a long history of rowing and canoeing on the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. Discussions were held on ways to provide equipment to athletes in the Bagdad Training Centre. This centre’s boat hangars were unfortunately looted in the spring of this year. The Iraqi Canoe and Rowing Federation has an offer from Romania for athletes to train for the Olympics there and for the Pan Arabic Games which will take place in Algeria in September of 2004. However, there is a serious lack of equipment for local athletes and teams returning from foreign training. FISA hopes that, in cooperation with the International Canoe Federation (ICF), some projects can be initiated to further develop and enhance these two water sports in Iraq.

The Interim Committee to Administer Sports in Iraq is in the process of re-commencing its coaching education and development programme with a focus on management. Mr. Anwaya explained that there are many highly educated individuals in the sports movement in Iraq but that he wants to see them to be more empowered with management of the teams and sports federations as progress takes place in his country. For the moment a focus has been placed on preparing some sports teams for the competitions at the 2004 Athens Olympics.

The International Olympic Committee and Olympic Solidarity will be working closely with Iraq to assist with this process as well as various sports federations.