Syria athletes: we won’t give in to Assad or war

An Olympic bronze medal boxer and a world champion in freestyle wrestling are among 581 Syrian sportsmen and women killed or seriously injured in their country’s civil war. Many have died as bombing and shelling wiped out the sports stadiums and centres in which they were training or competing, the Syrian Network for Human Rights says.

Others have been tortured or have disappeared after expressing their views against the government of president Bashar Al Assad, or had their passports taken to stop them competing in international events.

“Today any sportsperson who opposes the regime will lose his identification and documents,” said Orwa Kanawati, chairman of the Free Syrian Body of Sports.

“The air raids destroyed most of the sports facilities in the country and we lost dozens of champions and athletes by arbitrary detention over the last few years.”

The association was set up by Syrian opposition groups in March 2012 to give dissident athletes an international sports body separate from the Syrian government’s Sports Union.

“What we are trying to do here is to normalise life as much as possible for athletes,” says Mr Kanawati.

“Giving in to the war is not at all on our agenda. We want to tell the world that we’re still here – that this is our identity and we are not terrorists.”