Oman Fencing Committee resumes national team training

MUSCAT, Oct 5  - After an absence of seven months, Oman Fencing Committee (OFC) resumed the fencing activities which stopped due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. The internal hall at Seeb Stadium was the venue for the resumption of the national fencing team player’s training sessions. Restarting of the fencing activities was accompanied by the strict implementation of the medical precautionary measures as the safety of the players is the top priority for the committee. The committee ensured the implementation of all the instructions raised by the Supreme Committee, Ministry of Culture, Sports and Youth and Ministry of Health including the sanitisation of the venue, equipment and related tools of fencing. Oman fencing head coach, Hisham Karshood, stated that it is great to return back to the normal sporting activity. “After an absence for more than half a year, we are delighted to resume the fencing activities. Definitely, the returning back to the physical training at this tough time will require a cautious resumption of the sporting activities. We believe the safety of the players is the top concern for us and in accordance with that we have implemented strict medical regulations and rules to ensure the safety of the players,” he added. The Tunisian coach explained the schedule of the national fencing team players. “We have two phases for the resumption of the fencing training programmes. The first phase is the commencement of the training by the national fencing team players only while the rest of the players can join the training when the pandemic situation will be in a safe position and the number of cases drops down.” “We have grouped the national team players into three batches. The first group will begin training from 10 am until 12 noon and for five days weekly. The second batch starts from 4 pm to 6 pm and for three days weekly. The last batch training sessions kick off at 6 pm to 8 pm and it is scheduled for five days. In each group, there are eight to twelve players only. We have tried to reduce the number of the players and distribute them into groups to avoid the big gatherings,” the head coach pointed out. Karshood affirmed that there is a daily-check up for the player’s health condition prior to entrance to the training hall. “A continuous follow-up will be done with the players’ parents to ensure the health condition of the players. Many of the games protocol including handshakes will be avoided. The social distancing and keeping distance of two to four metres at least will be implemented as well. All the training sessions at this period are individual training sessions and the group training sessions will be suspended until further notice,” he ended. During the past few months, the fencing team players had trained remotely from home under at ‘Stay Home’ campaign. The Sultanate’s fencing team medallist Israa al Siyabi was one of the fencing national team stars who took part in the campaign which was under the supervision of the head coach Hisham Karshood. The campaign was part of the committee’s imitative to keep the players under right fitness and to adhere all the related decisions which raised by the Supreme Committee and inline to the Ministry of Sports Affairs instructions to stop doing any outdoor and group sports activities. OFC, which was established in 2019, is a member at Fencing International Federation (FIE) since November 2019. Despite the recent formation of the committee, Oman national fencing team had impressed in different regional participations. Oman’s players had claimed the bronze medal at the Arab Fencing Championships which was held in Bahrain in January 2020. Oman’s Ahmed Anwar was the champion at ‘floree’ competition in Kuwait friendly tournament which was part of the team’s camp in February 2020 while his team-mate Asad al Maskari finished as the runner-up. At the ‘elepee’ competitions, Oman team representative Abdulhakeem al Shidani came in second, while Omar al Harthi claimed third place.   Adil Al Balushi