Sports and Leisure
Popular sports include football, basketball, swimming, tennis, table tennis, equestrian and chess. Damascus is home to many football clubs that participate in the Syrian Premier League including Al-Jaish, Al-Shurta, Al-Wahda and Al-Majd. Many Other sport clubs are located in several districts of the city: Barada SC, Qasioun SC, Nidal SC, al-Muhafaza SC, al-Fayhaa SC, al-Thawra SC, Dummar SC and al-Arin SC.
The fifth and the seventh Pan Arab Games were held in Damascus in 1976 and 1992 respectively.
Damascus has quite busy midnights. Coffeehouses, where —in addition to Arabic coffee and tea— nargileh (water pipes) are served, proliferate Damascus. Card games, tables (backgammon variants), and chess are activities frequented in cafés.
Tishreen Park is one of the largest and popular parks in Damascus. It is home to the yearly-held Damascus Flower Show. Other parks include: al-Jahiz, al-Sibbki, al-Tijara, al-Wahda, etc. Damascus' Ghouta (Oasis) is also a popular weekend-destination for recreation. Many recreation centres operate in the city including sport clubs, swimming pools and golf courses. The Syrian Arab Horse Association in Damascus offers a wide range of activities and services for horse breeders and riders.
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Famous quotes containing the words sports and, sports and/or leisure:
“Sports and gallantries, the stage, the arts, the antics of dancers,
The exuberant voices of music,
Have charm for children but lack nobility; it is bitter earnestness
That makes beauty; the mind
Knows, grown adult.”
—Robinson Jeffers (1887–1962)
“Even from their infancy we frame them to the sports of love: their instruction, behaviour, attire, grace, learning and all their words aimeth only at love, respects only affection. Their nurses and their keepers imprint no other thing in them.”
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592)
“As to that leisure evening of life, I must say that I do not want it. I can conceive of no contentment of which toil is not to be the immediate parent.”
—Anthony Trollope (1815–1882)