?Palestinians play squash at a newly opened squash club inside Champion Club in Gaza City, Oct. 21, 2019. (Photo by Rizek Abdeljawad/Xinhua)
by Emad Drimly
GAZA, Oct. 26 (Xinhua) -- Amjad Muheisen, a 30-year-old Palestinian, has finally achieved his dream of playing squash in Gaza, which he has been watching for years on television.
Muheisen has recently joined the newly opened first-ever squash club in the Gaza Strip, which has been under Israeli blockade since mid-2007.
"I have not played squash for seven years since I moved from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to Gaza," Muheisen told Xinhua. "I started to play squash since I was 13 years old and I was trained by my father who was a well-known squash player in the UAE."
Muheisen added that he was supposed to join some Arab and international competitions. However, his dreams vanished when he stopped practicing squash completely after he moved to Jordan and then to Gaza to complete his university studies.
"I was only able to watch games on television... I'm glad that I can exercise for three days a week now," he added.
Squash requires a high level of physical fitness and a strong concentration as well as a healthy diet so that players do not feel tired or fatigue during the quick games.
According to the World Squash Federation, there are about 50,000 squash courts in the world, with 188 countries and territories having at least one court. England having the greatest number of 8,500 courts.
Today, the United States has the fastest growing squash participation, while an estimated 20 million squash players practice the game worldwide.
Champion Club in Gaza city recently opened two squash courts, the first of its kind in the seaside territory amid absence of adequate infrastructure for the sport.
Rami al-Khodari, executive director of the club, told Xinhua that he intends to spread squash in Gaza, noting that the club aims to join several Arab and international tournaments.
"We want to raise the name of Palestine in international forums and work to support players who are able to represent Palestine," al-Khodari said.
Through joining the club, Muheisen hopes to participate in international competitions as he became able to compete.
"I would be proud to represent Palestine in this sport, especially because it is not popular in my country," he said.
Meanwhile, Muheisen's father, Jamal, has been playing squash as a hobby for decades during his long stay in the UAE.
The father, who worked as a chemical engineer in oil fields in the UAE, used his vacation time to practice various types of sports, including tennis, basketball and squash.
"The young people in Gaza are energetic and highly fit to the requirements of this game in particular, but they need the potentials and support," the father said.
He expressed his hope that local clubs in Gaza would be able to build squash courts, noting that building these courts is not costly and gives a good image about Gaza regionally and internationally.
"Investing in sports and youths will show the beautiful side of Gaza to the entire world... The Palestinian society is considered a young society where the percentage of young people is very high and we should help them practice all kinds of sports," he stressed.
According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS), the number of the elderly aged 60 years and above reached 257,151, about 5 percent of the total population, by mid-2019.
Even though the percentage of the elderly will be increasing during the coming years in Palestine, their percentage will remain relatively low and would not exceed 5 percent during the current decade, the PCBS said in a report earlier this month.
