On the occasion of the International Anti-Corruption Day, corresponding to 9th December 2013, the "Sport against Corruption" Futsal Championship was inaugurated on Sunday 1st December. The competitions were held in Abu Yousef Al Najjar Hall in Khan Younis City under the supervision of Bunian Society for Training, Evaluation and Community Studies, funded by the Coalition for Integrity and Accountability "AMAN" in collaboration with the Ministry of Youth and Sports- Khan Younis Directorate.
The opening day was attended by Sheikh Abdul Ghani, Director General of the Youth and Sports Directorate- Khan Younis, Mr. Mohammed Al Namrouti Executive Director of Bunian Society and Mr. Munir Al Bhadari, the tournament supervisor, in addition to the participating teams’ representatives.
The inauguration activities included a parade of all the participating teams who roamed around the pitch holding posters against corruption and nepotism, in addition to playing the Palestinian national anthem.
In his speech, Mr. Al Namrouti expressed his pleasure to attend and participate in combating corruption through the most popular game worldwide, football. He said, "The objective of organizing this event is to convey a message to the world against the corrupted and that we must fight them. Also, he stressed the fact that it is important to adhere to the high spirits and ethics of sport.
Mr. Al Sheikh regarded highly the role of Bunian Society in holding such events to send messages through the football game addressing important social issues. He pointed out that the Ministry of Youth and Sports has always been advocating such creative ideas to serve the interests of the Palestinian community.
He commended such an initiative saying, "The Ministry hands are outstretched to serve all institutions and serve all their events. He ended by wishing the best of luck and success to all teams.
The international referee Mr. Imad Murjan singled out certain important rules to be taken up and adhere to during all matches.
The first day of the tournament witnessed four matches within the competitions of the 16th round. The first match was between the Japanese Quarter and Hawooz. It ended by (5/1) in favor of the Japanese Quarter. In the second match, Bunian Association crushed Nojoum Shaboura by one clean goal. The third match was between Al Njoum and Al Nosour and ended in the favor of the latter by (3/2). The last match of the first day was between Martyr Ayman Al Bahdari Team and Nashama Al Qararah who ended the match in their favor by (4/2).
Competitions will resume on Monday where there will be four matches within the 16th round of the tournament.
