Mohamad Behbehani.
Mohamad Behbehani, the Secretary-General of Arab Gymnastics Federation (AGF) has praised the performance of Arab gymnasts at the 12th Artistic Gymnastics World Cup, saying the sport is fast becoming a culture in the region.
In Doha to witness the 12th Artistic Gymnastics World Cup which concluded at the Aspire Dome yesterday, Behbehani of Kuwait said he was delighted to see the performance of Arab gymnasts and the large turnout of spectators.
“The level of performance of athletes from the Arab region in artistic gymnastics has gone up. It’s not like earlier when it was about just participating. Now the gymnasts from this region are quite on par and aim to take one of the three places on the podium.
“Considering that this was the World Cup series and also at the world championships, the effort is highly appreciable of these athletes and hopefully we shall find them on the podium more often than not,” said Behbehani.
Highlighting the good show of some of Middle East gymnasts, he said, “If you see at this World Cup, gymnasts from the Middle East and Ali Zahran of Egypt were impressive in the finals against some of the best of the world. Ibrahim Colak of Turkey on Still Rings, and Saeedreza Keikha of Iran on Pommel Horse I thought were exceptional.
“I also hope that we will be seeing more gymnasts from the Middle East at the world championships next March and at the Tokyo Olympics in 2020.”
