After being ISIS detention center, a local sports stadium in Raqqa fully restored
Raqqa – North-Press Agency
Abdullatif Hilal
The sports sector in the city of Raqqa, northeastern Syria has been severely damaged during the control of the Islamic State, the Committee of Youth and Sports in the city started to re-vitalize sports and rehabilitate stadiums after eliminating the terrorist group.
The local sports stadium was one of the city’s most important sports monuments, yet the Islamic State (ISIS) had turned it into a prison and a security point, where they were torturing and executing residents of the city, who opposed ISIS rule.
Thus, the stadium was known as the “Black Stadium Prison”, where “anyone enters the prison would never be back, and who gets out is re-born,” according to locals’ comments.
After the territorial defeat of the Islamic State, the Civil Council of Raqqa had formed the Youth and Sports Committee, which began to reactivate sports in the city, from equipping stadiums, gyms, and clubs, starting with the local sports stadium (Black Stadium) as it has a great symbolic importance for the locals.
The restoration process included maintenance of the roof covered the bleachers along with repairing and painting them, removing the debris from the stadium’s floor, to begin receiving athletes of all ages and groups.
Maintenance works
Concerning the maintenance works of the stadium and the rest of sports facilities, Ahmad Al-Sharif, deputy supervisor of the Committee of Youth and Sports of Raqqa Civil Council explained to North-Press that the stadium was fully equipped saying: “Now we are at the final stage of maintenance, where we began the process of grassing the stadium according to the standards of stadiums.”
In Last year’s December, the Sports Committee of Raqqa was established to be the essence for establishing several official clubs that includes all kinds of sports in the city, football, volleyball, and individual athletics, which it has a special hall, that was opened on the 10th of this month.
Al-Sharif added that the Sports Committee in the city began as an emergency to rehabilitate many of the stadiums in the countryside by preparing the pitch grounds by bulldozers, and providing them with stands and nets and other equipment, pointing out that the focus was on football because of its importance and priority for the youth in Raqqa.
Al-Sharif explained that 52 sports stadiums for football were established under the name of Popular Community Clubs: “We’re currently working on the establishment of football leagues to classify the clubs according to the first and second grades,” he said.
Al-Sharif added that the committee held a special course for soccer referees in January to enrich and polish their expertise and to referee the matches held in the city. Also, one basketball stadium was established, it was called the Youth Club, while 18 volleyball teams were formed in Raqqa and its countryside.
Regarding the Youth Club for individual athletics, Al-Sharif said: “We opened the individual hall for athletics and iron gym and equipped it with the latest sports equipment for women and men by dividing the time between them, in addition to the demands by athletes of opening and activating this hall to be a breathing place for them, we’re also working on a table tennis hall for amateurs”.
The Youth and Sports Committee is also working on preparing a groundwork near the former “Owais al-Qarni” shrine to turn it into a playground similar to Al-Furat and Local-Stadium playgrounds in Raqqa.