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FENCING enthusiasts hope a high-profile competition will help grow the sport's popularity in the kingdom.
Head coach Ahmed Alderazi, pictured left, is helping to spearhead the Bahrain Fencing Association (BFA) drive to attract new talent after breaking away from its grouping with the Bahrain Shooting Association.
Saleh Faraj Sultan Farhan, pictured below left, general secretary of BFA, said: "Fencing has featured prominently within the Bahrain Defence Force since 1979 when it became part of the annual pentathlon organised by the sports division.
"In 2007, the fencing association became a separate sports body and a civilian association that now operates under the chairmanship of Shaikh Ibrahim bin Salman Al Khalifa. Although we are a newborn association, we want to make fencing a national sport instead of it being confined to the military."
Since hiring coach Alderazi in 2007, the national team has participated in a number of championships both regionally and internationally. In November, the team travelled to China to participate in an international competition - Taipei Landseed Open 2008 - and Amman Mukannon, 18, was ranked number nine in the competition. For Alderazi this has marked the start of something exciting.
BFA is hosting its first-ever event in Bahrain as part of the kingdom's National Day celebrations.
Bahrain Open Competition of Fencing for National Day will be held on December 12. The event is open to all fencers, Bahraini and non-Bahraini, male and female and will be played in a knock-out format.
The National Day championship is sponsored by Batelco and BFA and is supported by GOYS. It will be held at Isa Town club from 9am to 7pm.
"A fencer should think like a chess player. His finger should be as though it's on a sword but be as soft as that of a piano player. He should be as quick as an athlete running a 100 metres race. These three characteristics are the hallmark of a good fencer," said the 55-year-old Bahraini coach.
"Fencing is good for improving the brain and is great for self determination, courage, challenge, agility and fitness," he added.
The association is certainly serious about its commitment to the sport and in future plans to host league championships within different clubs on the island. At present there are 67 fencers - both boys and girls - registered. But the association is scouring for new talent in the hope that it will gain in popularity.
"We are looking for talent and financial support to promote the sport in Bahrain. Presently we don't have our own facility to practise and ask various clubs around the island to lend us their space. It takes around BD300 to equip a fencer from head to toe with specialised gear and without appropriate funds we cannot take the sport forward," said Mr Alderazi, who has fenced at international competition level and has been a highly-respected coach in the Middle East for several years.
