Historic Saudi Arabian female success at the Arab Sports Games

The boxing tournament of the Arab Sports Games continued with 16 bouts including female contests in Algeria’s capital in Algiers. The Saudi Arabians won a historic woman bout in the second day of boxing and their Ragad Ibrahim Al-Naimi joined the finals of the Games. The Tunisian, Algerian and Moroccan girls impressed in the session, dominating their fights.

Host Algeria, Iraq, Jordan, Libya, Morocco, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates and Yemen are the participating nations in the boxing tournament of the Arab Sports Games. The women’s and the men’s finals will be held on the sixth competition day on July 12.

Saudi Arabia sent a female team to the Arab Sports Games for the very first time and their Ragad Ibrahim Al-Naimi made her debut in the international stage on Day 2 of the Games. The Saudi Arabian girl won national competitions in 2022 and she had the skills to beat Qatar’s newcomer Dana Al-Jabor in the semi-finals of the women’s light welterweight (63kg). Al-Naimi became the first ever Saudi Arabian female boxer who won an international contest and made history for her country.

Jordan’s Yousef Iashash impressed at the recent Men’s Elite World Boxing Championships in Tashkent where he advanced to the quarter-finals of the featherweight (57kg). The young talent had a tough opponent as first, a local boy, Algeria’s Hichem Maouche but Iashash managed to beat his North African opponent unanimously.

Palestine’s Wasim Abusal turned 19 only last month but he had the skills and technical knowledge to keep control in the first round against United Arab Emirates’ Nawwaf Al-Zahmi in their featherweight (57kg) quarter-final. Abusal dictated the tempo of the contest and he landed the better shots in all of the three rounds to take a medal in the Games.

Hussein Youssif Naeem Hussein is a 19-year-old talent in Iraq who impressed at the Arab Youth Boxing Championships in 2022 and he was quickly joined to their elite national team. The Iraqi teenager faced another U22 boxer, Palestine’s Nidal Foqahaa who won historic contests in the Men’s Elite World Boxing Championships in Tashkent. Both boxers had the youth enthusiasm to win this important quarter-final bout but Hussein had the great finish to celebrate his guaranteed medal in Algiers.

The next light middleweight (71kg) contest was more clear and easier for the judges as Jordan’s top boxer, the Tokyo Olympian Zeyad Eshaish met Tunisia’s Hamza Ghazouani. The 25-year-old boxer from Jordan controlled the exchanges from the first seconds against the Tunisian and took the lead on the judges’ scorecards. Eshaish had the routine and the speed advantage to decide their contest, securing a spot in the semi-finals of the weight class.

The third day of boxing contains seven female and twelve male contests in the Games where most of the winners will be finalists.

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