Ziad Abusara
April 11, 2019
Debate in Doha: 草莓污视频导航 team takes silver in Arabic-language competition
A team from the 草莓污视频导航 has won silver debating in Classical Arabic at an international competition in Qatar. The team was the only Canadian entry and one of only two all-female squads among the 106 teams from 53 countries competing at the聽聽in Doha last month.聽
鈥淚t was amazing,鈥 says Mais Abu Saleh, a fourth-year student in the Faculty of Kinesiology who wants to be a certified exercise physiologist. 鈥淚t was a great experience. They were so hospitable and we felt very welcome.鈥
She signed up for the team last fall to brush up on her Classical Arabic, a different dialect from the more commonly spoken Modern Standard Arabic. Tackling topics from health to democracy honed her critical thinking skills, too. 鈥淚n kines we have a huge focus on exercise and health,鈥 she says. 鈥淒ebate has taught me to see a different viewpoint and look for different perspectives. Some people lack income or the knowledge or opportunity for wellness.鈥
The team 鈥 Abu Saleh, Hager Ben Mansour of the Faculty of Science, and聽Heyam Abdulrahman and Rineem Saleh聽 from the Faculty of Arts 鈥 took a little good-natured trash talk from other teams about being an all-female crew. 鈥淭hat was a really interesting experience," says Saleh, who is in her fourth year studying political science, international relations and Russian. 鈥淢ost of the people really underestimated us: 鈥極h you鈥檙e all girls and you still want to talk about sports?鈥 鈥
Pictured above, from left are聽Hager Ben Mansour, Faculty of Science; Mais Abu Saleh, Faculty of Kinesiology; Rineem Saleh and Heyam Abdulrahman, Faculty of Arts; Machaille Al-Naimi, of the Qatar Foundation; Ziad Abusara, team coach from the Faculty of Kinesiology; and Hayat Abdullah Marafi, the executive director of QatarDebate.
Not only did the women want to talk about sports, they 鈥渃rushed it鈥 says their coach聽Dr. Ziad Abusara, PhD, a researcher in the Faculty of Kinesiology. 鈥淲e picked the right team and we had the right training.鈥
A couple of Abusara鈥檚 former debaters, Amjad Al Absi and Taher Youssouf helped the women prepare. 鈥淲e were a very strong team.鈥 聽
This is Abusara鈥檚 first win. He has taken three teams to the Qatar competition over the last six years to to encourage students to have more open discussions. 鈥淚 like to train them to put themselves in the shoes of the other person. Many people have only their opinion and their opinion only,鈥 says the Palestinian-born researcher. 鈥淚 have had lots of discussions in my life and I found that it is really interesting to put yourself in the shoes of the other person.鈥
The debate, which is funded by the state of Qatar, has two categories: native and non-native Arabic speaking teams. 草莓污视频导航 was among the 43 non-native speaking teams. Saleh, who started learning Arabic in university, says her newfound proficiency聽will help when she moves to Jordan to work with an NGO after graduation. Abu Saleh will use her improved Arabic to converse with family and pave the way for opportunities to work in other countries.
The team accepted their silver medals on stage with a big Canadian flag borrowed just hours before from the Canadian Embassy in Doha. After discovering they had misplaced the maple leaf they brought from home, coach Abusara dashed to the embassy where officials happily lent him one of the Canadian flags hanging in the foyer.