Sports in Somalia

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Abdi Bile, Somalia's most decorated athlete and holder of the most national records.

Sports in Somalia are regulated by the Ministry of Sports of Somalia. The government ministry works closely with the Somali Olympic Committee and various sports governing bodies, including the Somali Football Federation. Abdi Bile from Las Anod is Somalia's most decorated athlete in history; Abdi Bile also holds the highest number of Somali national records. The longest continuously serving national team captains of Somalia's two most popular sports, basketball and football, are Yusuf Qaafow and Hasan Babay respectively.[note 1]

History

In the late 1920s, Italian authorities began to organize sport in Somalia. The Italian-organized sports were initially concentrated only in the capital Mogadishu and practiced by Italian Somalis.[1]

In 1931 governor

Somalis
; in 1939 the winning team was the "Araba".

In 1938 competitions of other sports, like swimming, basketball, athletics and cycling, were held: the boxing was practiced by Ballin Nur and Isac Barrachi, two Somalis champions with international fame.

auto race (the "Circuito di Mogadiscio") was held.[3]

After

Italian government obtained the "Somalia Trusteeship" from the ONU. The race was held on the coastal streets of Mogadiscio, near the port and on "Lungomare Corni",[5] and was more than one mile long.[6]

In 1956 the first stadium in Somalia was built by the Italian National Olympic Committee:[7] the Banadir Stadium in Mogadishu. In 2008, BBC Somali correspondent Maxamed Xaaji Xuseen described Abdi Bile as "yahay ciyaartoyda ugu caansan ee soo marta taariikhda Soomaaliya", which roughly translates as Abdi Bile is Somalia's most famous athlete in history, or Abdi Bile is the greatest athlete in Somalia's history.[8] The Somalist scholar Cabdiraxmaan Cismaan Aw Aadan, in his 2014 list of 100 most notable Somalis, listed Abdi Bile as the greatest Somali athlete in general.[9]

Football

Main article: Football in Somalia
Gedo province football trophy.

WW2. The Somali Youth League (SYL), the nation's first political party, had put together a team of local youth to play against the Italian
expatriate teams.

In 1955 -during the

Somali Police FC" and "AS Mogadiscio".[10]

In 1958, the first commissioner for sport in Somalia was also established. The football squad that the SYL had assembled, which would later change its name to Bondhere, won the first several competitions. However, it was not as successful in its early forays against foreign teams. Important countrywide competitions are the

multi-ethnic squad, Somalia first participated at the Olympic Games in 1972 and has sent athletes to compete in most Summer Olympic Games since then. The equally diverse Somali beach soccer team also represents the country in international beach soccer competitions. In addition, several international footballers such as Mohammed Ahamed Jama, Liban Abdi, Ayub Daud and Abdisalam Ibrahim play in European top leagues. On 17 December 2015, Horseed FC vs Heegan FC
became the first association football match to be aired live in Somalia.

Athletics

1985 IAAF World Marathon Cup
.

Many Somalia-born athletes have found success in the diaspora.

Barcelona Olympics, becoming the first-ever Olympic medallist for Qatar. Throughout his career, Suleiman ran several Asian records over 1500 m and the mile run. He won the gold medal in the 1500 m representing Asia at the 1992 IAAF World Cup. Suleiman ran for Qatar at two further Olympic Games (in 1996 and 2000) and reached the event finals, although he did not make the podium. Suleiman's younger brothers Nasser and Abdulrahman Suleiman have also competed internationally in middle-distance running – Abdulrahman was the 2002 Asian champion for the 1500 m.[11]

US Olympic Trials
in 2008.

Basketball

Somalia's Faisal Aden set the scoring record for points in an official match between basketball national teams.

The

Pan Arab Games
.

In January 2013, national basketball team player

Rwanda squad. This remains the global scoring record in an official international FIBA match.[13]

Bandy

In 2013, a

ABB Arena, which was open to developing bandy countries.[15] The team has continued to participate in the world championships in 2015, 2016, and 2017
.

Martial arts

Faisal Jeylani Aweys receiving a taekwondo medal in Belgium.

In the

World Taekwondo Federation since 1997, and is based in Mogadishu.[16]

The squad takes part in international, Africa and Arab world taekwondo competitions.[17][18] At the 2013 Open World Taekwondo Challenge Cup in Tongeren, Belgium, team members Faisal Jeylani Aweys and Mohamed Deq Abdulle took home a silver medal and fourth place, respectively. The Somali Olympic Committee has devised a special support program to ensure continued success in future tournaments.[19]

Additionally, Mohamed Jama has won both world and European titles in K1 and Thai Boxing.[20]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ see the Yusuf Qaafow and Hasan babay pages

References

  1. ^ Sport e fascismo (in Italian); p. 248
  2. ^ Sport in fascist Somalia; p.250
  3. ^ 1938 Car race of Mogadishu (in Italian)
  4. ^ Postcard of the 1953 Moto race
  5. ^ Mogadiscio postcard: Lungomare Corni in 1939
  6. ^ "?" (PDF). Corriere della Somalia (in Italian). 7 August 1951. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 June 2015.
  7. ^ "AIPS Web Site - Banadir Stadium upgrade to be completed by year's end". www.aipsmedia.com. Archived from the original on 7 July 2011.
  8. ^ "BBCSomali.com | Wararka | Wareysi: Orod-yahan Cabdi Bile". www.bbc.com. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
  9. ^ Aden, Abdullahi Osman. "(DOC) BOQOLKA QOF EE SOMALI UGU CAANSAN.docx | Abdullahi Osman Aden - Academia.edu".
  10. ^ "??" (PDF). Corriere di Mogadiscio (in Italian). 28 November 1955. p. 3. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 March 2016.
  11. ^ Mohan, K. P. (2002-08-12). Abdulrahman keeps up family tradition; China maintains superiority . The Hindu. Retrieved on 2010-09-04.
  12. ^ "1981 African Championship for Men". FIBA. Retrieved 15 December 2013.
  13. ^ "Somali Aden rivals Brazilian legend Oscar Schmidt's mark". FIBA. 2 April 2015. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 29 March 2015.
  14. ^ "Swede to coach first Somalia bandy team". Radio Sweden. 13 May 2013. Retrieved 22 June 2013.
  15. ^ "International Bandy Camp in Västerås". Svenskbandy. Retrieved 10 November 2013.
  16. ^ "Somalia". World Taekwondo Federation. Archived from the original on 10 November 2013. Retrieved 8 November 2013.
  17. ^ "About us". Somali Taekwondo. Retrieved 8 November 2013.
  18. ^ Pound, Geoff (2 February 2012). "Arab Junior Taekwondo Championship to be Held in Fujairah, UAE". Fujairah in Focus. Retrieved 8 November 2013.
  19. ^ "Somalia moves forward at world Taekwondo". Horseed Media. 6 March 2013. Retrieved 19 October 2013.
  20. ^ "Great Victory for Malta in K1 Kickboxing". Malta Independent. 10 February 2010. Retrieved 18 October 2013.

Bibliography

  • Del Boca, Angelo and Gabrielli, Gianluca. L’attività sportiva nelle colonie italiane durante il fascismo. Tra organizzazione del consenso, disciplinamento del tempo libero e «prestigio di razza» "I Sentieri della ricerca", rivista di storia contemporanea. Crodo, 2005
  • Hess, Robert L. Italian Colonialism in Somalia. University of Chicago P. Chicago, 1966.
  • Giuntini, Sergio. Sport e Fascismo. Editore FrancoAngeli. Milano, 2009
    ISBN 8856820854

External links

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