Lippi to attend Sport conference

Manama : Italy’s 2006 World Cup-winning coach Marcello Lippi will be the main speaker at the First Arab Conference on Sport with the slogan “The Role of Sport in Achieving Sustainable Development Goals,” on April 10 and 11.

The two-day conference will take place at Art Rotana Amwaj Hotel in Muharraq and is brought in cooperation with the United Nations Office in Bahrain and the International Council for Health, Physical Education, Sports and Recreation (ICHPER.SD).

Lippi’s contribution to the Bahrain event has been approved by the higher organizing committee of the conference for his vast coaching experience, leading Italy to their latest World Cup victory as well as winning his country’s Serie A title three times with Juventus.

Other key speakers include Egyptian swimming champion Ranya Al Alwani, member of Egypt parliament council as well as the International Olympic Committee.

Bahrain’s Omar Al Obaidly, Program Director for International and Geo-Political Studies at the Bahrain Centre for Strategic, International and Energy Studies, Hashim Hussain, Head of United Nations Industrial Development Organization – Investment and Technology Promotion Office (UNIDO-ITPO)/ the Arab Regional Centre for Entrepreneurship and Investment Training (ARCEIT), and Egypt’s Ashraf Sobhi will also present their respective paper work at the conference.

Judo lecturer Daniel Powell of the UK, Regional Development Coordinator for UNEP’s Regional Office for the West Asia region Dr Melanie Hutchinson, Dr Bander Al Saad of Saudi Arabia and Moayyed Al Wahsha of Jordan are among other speakers.

Meanwhile, Supreme Council for Youth and Sports general secretary Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa said the conference is organised as per the kingdom strategy to provide the youth and sports sector a major part in the development of the country, and noted the importance to invest in this sector as it covers large area of the development plans.