Arab Games

Arab Games

Abbreviation	AG
First event	26 July – 10 August 1953, Alexandria, Egypt
Last event	5–15 July 2023, (Algiers, Oran, Constantine, Annaba, Tipaza), Algeria
Organization	Union of Arab National Olympic Committees

The Arab Games (Arabic: الألعاب العربية), formerly called the Pan-Arab Games, are a regional multi-sport event held between nations from the Arab world. They are organized by the Union of Arab National Olympic Committees. The first Games took place in 1953 in Alexandria, Egypt. Intended to be held every four years since, political turmoil as well as financial difficulties have made the event an unstable one. Women first competed in 1985.

Complications

Typically the games are to take place every four years. Initially Lebanon was set to host the 2015 XIII Arab Games, but "withdrew because of the crisis in the Middle East". Following Beirut's withdrawal Morocco was then chosen to host the games, but faced financial complications and also withdrew. "Mohamed Ouzzine, Morocco's Minister of Youth and Sports [at the time, wrote to] the Union of Arab National Olympic Committees (UANOC) telling them that they would be withdrawing."

The same year, Egypt volunteered to host the event. "Sheikh Khalid Al Zubair, chairman of the Oman Olympic Committee (OOC)" said, "We will be offering our full support to Egypt and we have also taken a decision to suspend the financial regulations and other requirements due to lack of time." Had the UANOC accepted Egypt's proposition the games would have taken place in December 2015; however, no such event was held.

Editions

1953

1957, 1997

1961

1965, 2007

1976, 1992

1985

1999

2004

2011

2027

2023 (5 cities)

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Host cities of the Arab Games
5 cities (Algiers, Oran, Constantine, Annaba, Tipaza)

Games	Year	Host	Opened by	Dates	Nations	Competitors			Sports	Events	Top nation
						Men	Women	Total
1	1953	Alexandria	Mohamed Naguib	26 July – 10 August	9	650	—	650	10	70	Egypt
2	1957	Beirut	Camille Chamoun	13 – 27 October	10	914	—	914	12	90	Lebanon
3	1961	Casablanca	Hassan II	24 August – 8 September	9	1127	—	1127	11	90	United Arab Republic*
4	1965	Cairo**	Gamal Abdel Nasser	2 – 14 September	14	1500	—	1500	13	90	United Arab Republic**
5	1976	Damascus	Hafiz al-Assad	6 – 21 October	11	2174	—	2174	18	120	Syria
6	1985	Rabat	Hassan II	24 August – 8 September	17			3442	18	160	Morocco
7	1992	Damascus	Hafiz al-Assad	4 – 18 September	18			2611	14	150	Syria
8	1997	Beirut	Elias Hrawi	13 – 27 July	18			3253	22	217	Egypt
9	1999	Amman	Abdullah II	15 – 31 August	21			5504	26	323	Egypt
10	2004	Algiers	Abdelaziz Bouteflika	24 September – 10 October	22			5525	32	330	Algeria
11	2007	Cairo	Hosni Mubarak	11 – 26 November	22			6000	32	355	Egypt
12	2011	Doha	Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani	9 – 23 December	21			6000	33	316	Egypt
13	2023	Algeria (5 cities)	Aymen Benabderrahmane (Prime Minister)	5 – 15 July	22			3800	22	253	Algeria
14	2027	Riyadh	King of Saudi Arabia (expected)	Future event

• * United Arab Republic with Egypt and Syria.
• ** United Arab Republic with Egypt only.
• Not held in 2015 and 2019.
• 2015 Cancelled.

Sports

37 sports were presented in the Arab Games history. Para Sports since 1999. Women since 1985.

Sport Years  Athletics () since 1953  Archery () since 1953  Badminton () since 1999  Basketball () since 1953  Bodybuilding () since 1999  Boxing () since 1953  Bowling () since 2007  Bridge () since 1999 Camel racing () since 2007 Cue Sports since 2011  Chess () since 1999  Cycling () since 1957  Diving () TBA

Sport Years  Equestrian () since 1957  Fencing () since 1953  Finswimming () since 1999  Football () since 1953  Golf () since 1985  Gymnastics () since 1953  Handball () since 1961  Judo () since 1976  Karate () since 1976 Kickboxing () since 1999  Modern pentathlon () since 2007  Rowing () since 1957

Sport Years  Sailing () since 1985  Shooting () since 1953  Squash () since 1999  Surfing () since 1999  Swimming () since 1953  Table tennis () since 1976  Taekwondo () since 1997  Tennis () since 1961  Volleyball () since 1957  Water polo () since 1961  Weightlifting () since 1953  Wrestling () since 1953

All-time medal table

Below is the medal table of the Arab Games tournaments, up until the 13th tournament 2023.

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Egypt (EGY)	633	429	375	1,437
2	Algeria (ALG)	360	381	393	1,134
3	Tunisia (TUN)	303	273	346	922
4	Morocco (MAR)	300	275	301	876
5	Syria (SYR)	243	254	340	837
6	United Arab Republic (UAR)	122	74	49	245
7	Jordan (JOR)	88	140	228	456
8	Iraq (IRQ)	87	141	204	432
9	Qatar (QAT)	86	80	112	278
10	Lebanon (LIB)	82	122	189	393
11	Saudi Arabia (KSA)	76	106	154	336
12	Bahrain (BHR)	44	31	56	131
13	Kuwait (KUW)	40	65	143	248
14	United Arab Emirates (UAE)	34	41	65	140
15	Sudan (SUD)	24	42	37	103
16	Libya (LBA)	23	42	61	126
17	Oman (OMN)	19	18	27	64
18	Palestine (PLE)	8	23	70	101
19	Yemen (YEM)	7	10	21	38
20	Djibouti (DJI)	1	2	1	4
21	North Yemen (YAR)	1	0	1	2
22	Somalia (SOM)	0	4	1	5
23	Mauritania (MTN)	0	1	0	1
24	South Yemen (YMD)	0	0	1	1
Totals (24 entries)		2,581	2,554	3,175	8,310

• * The United Arab Republic (1958–1971) contains 2 countries Egypt & Syria.

Related Games

Arab University Games

Editions

• 1970s ? Iraq
• 1998 ? Egypt
• 2004 Amman
• 2010 ? Egypt
• 2018 Agadir

Arab University Beach Games

Editions

• 2016 Agadir

Arab Games for the Handicapped

Editions

• 1999 Amman
• 2003 Algiers (cancelled)

Arab School Games

Editions

Organized by the Arab Union for Physical Education and School Sports (AUPESS).

Unofficial

• 1949 Beirut
• 1951 Cairo
• 1952 Damascus
• 1954 Beirut

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Official

1963 Kuwait City 1964 not held 1966 Damascus 1971 Baghdad 1973 Beirut (women were first allowed to participate) 1975 Alexandria 1977 Tripoli 1979 Mogadishu 1986 Tunis 0000 not held

0000 not held 1998 ? Morocco 2000 not held 2002 Beirut 2004 ? Saudi Arabia 2006 Algiers 2008 Amman 2010 ? Lebanon 2012 Kuwait City

See also

• African Games
• Asian Games
• GCC Games
• All-Africa University Games

Sources

• Bell, Daniel (2003). Encyclopedia of International Games. McFarland and Company, Inc. Publishers, Jefferson, North Carolina. ISBN 0-7864-1026-4.

External links

• Athletics medalists
• Arab Games 2007 website (archived 20 September 2008)
• Arab Games 2011 official website (archived 28 January 2011)
• Arab Games 2011 Exhibition and Timeline (archived 7 October 2011)