physically challenged experience thrill of scuba diving filediving instructor for the last five...
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![Page 1: Physically challenged experience thrill of scuba diving filediving instructor for the last five years here in Oman, said: “For the phys-ically challenged, diving is good for the](https://reader031.vdocuments.mx/reader031/viewer/2022022807/5ce02c0188c99390298d2173/html5/thumbnails/1.jpg)
MUSCAT Al Wisal 96.5 FMradio owned by Sabco Me-dia, is planning to expand itsoperations on the occasionof its first anniversary.
At a press conferenceheld here on Thursday tomark the anniversary,Eihab A Abu Taha, generalmanager of Sabco, said AlWisal will start broadcast-ing from Salalah in the nearfuture. Al Wisal will be the
first private radio station inSalalah, he said. Al Wisal isalso planning to startbroadcasting in English thisyear from Muscat station,he added.
Taha said a month-longcelebrations will begin onSaturday. Special pro-grammes would be broad-cast through the radio. Thecelebrations will includecontests and prizes will begiven to winners. A drawfor the special grand prizewould be held on April 19,he said. Taha said Sabco hasplans to launch two moremagazines in the comingdays.
Nadim Attieh, generalmanager of Al Wisal FM,said they have plans tobring the whole Sultanateunder coverage in differentphases. He said Al Wisalwill double its present sig-nal strength. New equip-ment is being procured forthe purpose. The soundquality will also be betteredin the coming days, he said.As part of the anniversarywe will announce morenew projects, in the comingdays”, he added.
He said the FM, whichbegan with a staff strengthof seven, has grown rapid-ly. The present staff strengthis 20, he said. The coverageof GCC football cup by AlWisal was a tremendoussuccess and it has increasedthe popularity of the FM,Attieh said.
The portal of Al Wisal isalso getting good response,Attieh added. The portalwhich registered 200 hitsdaily initially is now regis-tering around 650 hits a day,he said.
NATIONSATURDAY, MARCH 21, 2009 5
Al Wisal FM radio plans expansion
A Harikumar/Oman Tribune
Nadim Attieh, general manager of Al Wisal FM (extremeright), Eihab A Abu Taha, general manager of SabcoMedia (middle), and Feroz Khan, director of sales andmarketing of Sabco (extreme left), addressing a pressconference in Muscat on Friday.
By A Staff Reporter
OMAN TRIBUNE
Physically challenged experiencethrill of scuba divingMUSCAT The OmanAssociation for the Dis-abled (OAD) held a pressconference to announce thelaunch of a unique pro-gramme and the first of itskind anywhere in the Mid-dle East – the training ofphysically challenged per-sons in scuba diving – byan expert seven-memberteam of trainers of theInternational Associationof Handicapped Divers(IAHD) – at the Oman DiveCentre in Qantab here onThursday.
Besides the seven mem-bers of the IAHD, address-ing the press conferencewas Stefanie Trier, who firstconceived the idea of intro-ducing such a programmefor physically challengeddivers and Tarek Jawad AlKhabori, the local represen-tative of the IAHD.
Introducing Dirk Won-drak, regional manager,IAHD for Germany, Aus-
tria, Switzerland andTurkey, and one of the mainspeakers at the press con-ference, Stefanie said thatthis was the first interactionthe IAHD team was havingwith the press and hoped itwould have a positiveimpact.
Speaking to the press,
Dirk explained that at thismeeting the IAHD delega-tion would first trainOmani divers. “There aretwo reasons for this. First,after we go back to ourhomes and working livesback in Germany and Hol-land, the Omani divinginstructors we train overthe next two days will beable to carry on the workafter we have left. Instruc-tors require a special kindof training to be able tohandle physically chal-lenged people. And sec-ondly, these instructorscan then carry on the workin a sustained manner.”
Dirk, who is a firemanand paramedic back homein Germany, explained thatscuba diving was one of thebest sports for physically
challenged people. It isgood both for physical aswell as mental fitness.
Wheelchair-bound per-sons and paraplegics andeven those suffering frommuscular dystrophy willfind that the natural buoy-ancy the human body expe-riences under waterenables them to move withease under water. Thissense of newfound free-dom of mobility workswonders for a person’s self-confidence, he added.
Stefanie, who has been adiving instructor for thelast five years here inOman, said: “For the phys-ically challenged, diving isgood for the body as wellas for the mind. It strength-ens the muscles of the body.But more than that it does
wonders for a person’s self-confidence and it givesthem a positive, never-say-die attitude.”
Al Khabori, Oman’sIAHD representative, said:“It is a matter of great sig-nificance that Oman is thefirst and only country in theMiddle East that has beenchosen for this programme.We hope such exchangesand dialogue will become aregular feature”.
Another IAHD represen-tative Daniel Zuidemafrom Amsterdam, Holland,said that the encouragingresponse they had receivedfrom the people of Omanwas overwhelming andthey planned to do biggerprojects in future.
Later, two wheelchair-bound persons Marhounand Saif addressed the con-ference and recountedtheir exhilarating experi-ence of diving in the sea forthe first time in their livesthe previous day. Theyexclaimed jubilantly:“Under the water there isanother world. In thisworld we were able to for-get completely that wehave any kind of handicapor disability.”
Later in the afternoon aspecial diving session forblind and visually-chal-lenged persons was held.After that all the partici-pants were giver certifi-cates from the IAHD. Theseven-member IAHD teamwas also presentedmementos.
By A Staff Reporter
OMAN TRIBUNE
David Solomon/Oman Tribune
(From left) Officials from the Ministry of Sports, Stefanie Trier, Tarek Jawad Al Kha-bori, Daniel Zuidema and Dirk Wondrak at the press conference.
Two physically challenged persons - Marhoun (left) andSaif recounting their first diving experience at the pressconference.
A Harikumar/Oman Tribune
GRAND OPENING: The new Park Inn Hotel was opened on Thursday. Ali MalallahAl Lawati, CEO of Al Habib Real Estate and the hotel, cuts the ribbon.
MUSCAT The “suhail-bahwangroup.com” hasbeen awarded silver in afiercely contested Corpo-rate Website Category ofOman Web Awards com-petition, whose jury com-prised a panel of luminar-ies from across the Arab world, according toa press release.
Recently refreshed tostay in tune with chang-ing times and technology,the website reflects thetruly diversified nature,the size and the businessfootprint of Suhail Bah-wan Group (SBG).
Company informationand the tracking of visitsto the site reveals that thenumber of hits that thisbilingual (English & Ara-bic) site has increased 4-5folds compared to the pre-vious year. On the basis ofcurrent hit frequency, thewebsite remains oncourse to attract up to 5million hits in the year.
Commenting on theaward, Divyendu Kumarof SBG said: “The awardis a recognition of the highquality of creative inputsand the content of the
website that the group’steam has brought to bear.The increasing number ofhits is also a substantiveverdict that we highlycherish.”
With a vision to “build,own and promote world-class businesses andbrands internationally”,the SBG is a highly diver-sified $ 3 billion businessconglomerate.
Established in the mid1960’s, this nearly five-decade old group current-ly employs approximate-ly 15,000 people and is
involved in businesses inthe Middle East, NorthAfrica and South Asia(India).
The group has interestsin fields as diverse asautomobile distributionand marketing, engineer-ing and construction, ITand telecommunication,steel and building materi-als, structural steel andpre-engineered buildingdesign and manufactur-ing, realty, travel &tourism, and logistics,among others.
Oman Tribune
Suhail Bahwan Group websitebags silver in Web Awards