The skills of skateboarding

For the kingdom’s budding Tony Hawks there was only one place to be at the weekend.

Skateboarders from across the country gathered to take part in Bahrain’s first-ever official skateboarding competition held at the Bahrain International Circuit’s (BIC) paddock club, writes Rosamund de Sybil.
The Skills of Skateboarding (S.O.S) competition was organised by Zahid Al-Blooshi, 19, and Emad Kadhim, 18, two members of local skateboarding team, Quickiez.
“There’s nowhere to go skating in Bahrain that’s why we organised the event,” said Zahid. “The main purpose of the event is to promote skateboarding in Bahrain and to give skaters here an opportunity to show their skills.
“Organising this has been a dream come true, and we’d love to raise enough money to build a skate park.”
The competition was sponsored by 21-year-old Shaikh Rashid bin Isa Bin Khalifa bin Hamad Al  Khalifa. He said: “It’s great to see Bahrain’s teenagers with interests like this. If you don’t support them they may end up getting into theft or drugs.
“I’ll be supporting them all the way. We’ll need sponsorship to set up a skate park … but today is a really good start.”
Emad and Zahid judged the competition and awarded prizes for the best trick, style and skating attitude. Prizes of BD50, BD40 and  BD30 were awarded to first, second and third places.
Local bands Minus the Sun, Neverland, TNT and Metalheart entertained the crowd.
“It’s been a really big success and I’m really happy that we made it happen,” said Zahid.