Thursday, February 14, 2008

Golden Jubilee Games - Nairobi

We are now just a few months away from the GJ Games to be held in Nairobi June 22-29. If things settle down by then and the games are pulled off this promises to be a once in a lifetime opportunity to see some really talented Ismaili athletes in one venue. I am really looking forward to being there, inshallah, and see some of our elite play in the various sports. I am of the age where I remember the Triangular Games of the early 80's when the games featured the cities of Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton. Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa also joined in subsequent years for it to be truly a National Sportsfest. One guy I will always remember and thank will be Zip Dhanani, a nationally ranked Badminton player in his heyday, who was so instrumental in pushing for the games and making them a big event when he was the BC Member for Youth - he even pulled off bringing the Minister of Sport at the time Jean Charest, now the Premier of Quebec, to the presentation banquet in Burnaby, BC - i think a 1,000 people attended that one. I also played Cricket and incredible memories and friendships were created throughout Canada - in fact in 1996 we even had a team from the US join us in Vancouver and a Vancouver team went to Houston to participate in a Cricket Fest.
So if you are participating in the Regional or National Games - have fun and hopefully we will see you in Nairobi in June - it should be a good one....