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Soccer star Deena Rahman has kicked off her Mount Kilimanjaro trek on a high note as she and her Venus Tekkers team climbed to the top in an annual charity football competition.
The Bahrain national team midfield maestro this week set off on her journey to Africa to trek up the highest peak in a bid to raise awareness about equality in sport, as recently highlighted in GulfWeekly, but not before notching another achievement to her sporting career.
Rahman and the squad, which included Bahrain’s Dana Noor, Fatima Isa, Fatema Mahmood and Zain Al Khalifa, Jordanian Lamis Al Saqqa and Americans Zoie Howes and Lexi Martinez, won the Mondial Hisham Fulath Ramadan charity futsal tournament staged in Al Najma Club in Juffair.
They competed against some of the leading women’s teams from across the region - Ravens FC, Eastern Flames from Saudi Arabia and Tekkers Academy, in the five-a-side tournament.
Venus Tekkers recorded an undefeated streak of success, having played four, won four and scored a staggering 31 goals. Rahman, 34, said: “I’m extremely happy for the girls after three close events without success. We came second in the Bahrain Football Association Women’s League and Cup as well as in a tournament in Dubai. We are delighted to finally bring home the winner’s trophy! Some of the best futsal players in the country play in this event.”
Unlike some other forms of indoor football, the game is played on a hard court surface delimited by lines and played with a smaller ball to create an emphasis on improvisation, creativity and technique as well as ball control and passing in small space.
In the final, Venus Tekkers defeated Ravens 7-0 and Rahman was awarded the tournament’s ‘best player’ accolade while Noor received the best goalkeeper prize. The awards were presented by Bahrain Olympic Committee (BOC) board member and Women’s Sport Committee chairwoman Shaikha Hayat bint Abdulaziz Al Khalifa.
Rahman added: “Obviously I’m delighted to have won player of the tournament but what I’m really happy about is being able to play in this event. It was superb fun to be a part of, everyone played with true spirit and it was for a great cause.”
The Mondial Hisham Fulath (mhf) was originally founded in 2008 when football lover Hisham Fulath died at the age of 22, after a battle with cancer. His brother, Mohamed, and the rest of the family wanted to honour his memory by staging an indoor football tournament during Ramadan.
Mohamed, 33, who works in the aviation sector, said: “Originally, we started the tournament two months after he passed away for our family and close friends to participate in. However, people kept joining in and more people wanted to participate too.
“Eventually it became an annual affair where the best futsal players on the island would compete in the tournament. It’s great to see the support continue to grow. My brother’s memory is living on through all these players.
“Hisham loved football and it was a sport he would play almost every day. This tournament raises awareness about cancer prevention and the funds collected are then donated for cancer research in Bahrain.”
Hisham used to play for Daphne High School in Alabama, US, and when he returned to the kingdom continued playing in goal for the former New York Institute of Technology Bahrain.
Since its launch, the tournament has raised around BD25,000.
Rahman will also be playing for a cause during her African adventure. She has joined the Equal Playing Field initiative aimed at paving the way for equality in sport, pushing for equal representation and respect on the pitch and in life.
She will be starting off her journey with a safari and will start the trek up Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania with 30 footballers on Sunday followed by a game in the sky on Tuesday.
Rahman said: “We will be playing the highest altitude game of football ever played at 18,871 feet in thin air. We will break a Guinness World Record by doing so and an independent film will be made to record our epic journey. Why are we doing this? It’s simple - for equality, opportunity and respect - nothing more and nothing less.”
In addition to a medical team a film crew will document the challenge for BEIN Sports, a regional TV channel.
Players involved include former Canadian national Sasha Andrews, former German World Cup star Petra Landers, Afghan national Hajar Abufazl, former FIFA World Cup referee Jacqui Hurford and others from Argentina, France, Egypt, Jordan, Mexico, the UK, US and the UAE.
Rahman’s aim was to raise £5,000 for the Equal Playing Field Initiative (Facebook, Twitter & Instagram @equalplayingfield or #EPF) which will assist towards enabling the team to run football camps for girls in developing countries across the globe.
Rahman added: “I’d like to thank the Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Foundation and everybody else such as Lift Gym, Zen Massage parlour and Almoayyed Tower who have supported me with funding or helping me train and prepare for the challenge.”
Readers wishing to support her endeavours can find more details by visiting www.gofundme.com/deenarecordbreaker
