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| 22 April 2005 | Friday | 12 Rabi-ul-Awwal 1426 |
Islamic Solidarity Games conclude: Saudi Arabia win football final
MAKKAH, April 21: The Islamic Solidarity Games concluded on Wednesday night while Iran was handed over the Games flag to play host to the next edition in year 2009. The flag was handed over by the president of General Presidency of Youth Welfare, Prince Sultan Ibn Fahad, to a representative of Iran during the closing ceremony at the King Abdul Aziz Stadium.
The most impressive part of the ceremony was the 30-minute long fireworks.
Earlier, Saudi Arabia, who had emerged as the champions of the games, won the football final after beating Morocco 1-0 to increase its medals tally to 60, 24 gold, 17 silver and 19 bronze medals.
Striker Yasser All-Qahtani headed in a fine cross from Khalid Aziz three minutes into second half.
Iran claimed the bronze after a nail-biting third place play-off, beating Syria 5-3 on penalty kicks after both sides ended the stipulated time without goal.
A 140-member Pakistan contingent took part in the Games and featured in 10 disciplines. But the only victory came in tennis as they won three golds and a bronze. Aisamul Haq won singles, team and the doubles events.
Aqeel Khan, who lost the singles semifinal to Kuwait’s Mohammad al-Ghareeb ably supported Aisam by winning his matches of the team event and was also impressive in the doubles final.
In football, Pakistan were pathetic and finished at ninth among a total of 14 countries. Tajikistan were at the bottom. The team, having Tariq Lutif as coach, failed to score any goal in two group matches.
Pakistan lost to runners-up Morocco 2-0 in the opener 2-0 before losing to Malaysia by identical margin.
The volleyball team showed spark and entered the league quarterfinals before being ousted after defeats by Egypt and Algeria in the league.
Pakistan defeated Morocco in the league.
In athletics, six players qualified for finals of different events but failed to win any medal.
Like football, the performance of basketball, handball, karate, taekwondo, swimming and table tennis teams was also below par.
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