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Gaza athletes ready for Guangzhou Asian Games

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-11-03 11:02

GAZA - Hussam Hamada, 25, will represent Palestine in the weightlifting competition during the upcoming Asian Games, due to be held this month in China.

Hamada, one of the weightlifting champions in Palestine, has never lost hope to break records during the Guanghzhou Asian Games, despite the lack of training equipment and the trainers.

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A modest, shabby sports hall near the Beach refugee camp in Gaza is the place where Hamada spends six hours a day, preparing himself for the international sports event.

"Our participation is seriously important," said Hamada, as he got himself ready to lift a bar loaded with 140 kilograms. He said that he and his colleagues will show "our fighting spirit to gain as much as medals."

Around 67 Palestinian athletes from the Gaza Strip and the West Bank will participate in the Asian Games which will open on Nov 12, said Fayez Abu Dayya, head of the Palestinian Olympic Committee.

Abu Dayya blames the lack of training capabilities, which he said "dampen our hope to compete." Participating in Guanghzhou games should be widely used as an opportunity to let Palestinian participants get competition experience, Abu Dayya said.

The Palestinian team will participate in football, volleyball, table tennis, weightlifting, football, swimming, wrestling, boxing and track and field games, he said.

Hamada's training hall looked all unfitted; the equipment he used are old. Tens of youngsters do exercises here, making it more impossible for him to concentrate.

The difficult training conditions are not the only hurdles facing Hamada and his mates to improve their performance. One of the major obstacles is the border closure imposed by Israel on Gaza since the Islamic Hamas movement grabbed hold of the territory violently in 2007.

"We can get better practice by Chinese coaches in Guanghzhou," said Sakher Galja, 26, a weightlifting champion and a member of the Palestinian Olympic delegation. "But the closure may destroy our hopes to represent Palestine in this important event."

Not far away from where Hussam and Galja were training, boxer Ayman Taramsi, 22, was having some exercise in an even worse small room that he called a training hall.

All the equipment there are primitive; made up of sand wrapped by plastic. Moreover, his trainer has never been a boxer. He got most of his boxing knowledge from specialized websites and vintage Hollywood and Asian movies.

Taramsi looked all calm and solid. His performance appeared to be professional and that was reflected as he managed to deliver a death blow to his trainer, making him fall down on the ground.

The young man said his resolve and steadfastness will help achieve a ranking and to the table to get a medal in the end of the event.

"I am going to China to fight for gold, not to symbolically participate," said Taramsi, delivering a blow after another to an empty tire eh used instead of a punch bag.