In a surprise decision, the Tunisian Swimming Federation announced, in a press release published on Friday, the postponement of the Arab Open Water Swimming Championships, originally scheduled in Tunisia from October 2 to 4.
This decision stems from the insufficient number of entries recorded from participating countries and swimmers.
The federation’s president, Hedia Mansour, indicated that the war conditions and the tense situation in the Gulf Arab region had led to the postponement of the competition. She specified that this decision had been taken in coordination with the Arab Swimming Union, after noting the impossibility for swimmers from the Gulf Arab countries — Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar and the Sultanate of Oman — to travel due to the direct repercussions of the regional conflict in the Gulf.
She also revealed that all organizational aspects necessary to host the Arab Championships were ready and available.
The Tunisian Swimming Federation now awaits the green light from the Arab Union to set a new date for the competition.
Hedia Mansour stressed that the Championships had not been cancelled and that their organization had not been withdrawn from Tunisia, but simply postponed for the reasons mentioned.
These factors prevented achieving a sufficient number of participations from countries and swimmers to allow the competition to take place in the best technical and organizational conditions.
Asked about a possible participation of Tunisia’s two world champions, Ahmed Ayoub Hafnaoui and Ahmed Jaouadi, in the Arab Championships after a new date is set, the federation’s president said they would not take part, the two swimmers being fully mobilized by their preparation for the World Championships.
She finally added that the Tunisian Swimming Federation was now focusing its efforts on youth and junior categories, in order to foster a new generation of swimmers capable of representing hopes for the coming years and of becoming future world and Olympic champions.
