Downtown Beirut in Lebanon is about to become the host of the first Martial Arts Festival in the region on September 25, 2015. The festival will be organized by Sensei Toufic Kawar the CEO and president of TRAK Development.
Toufic Kawar was born in Lebanon and he was introduced to the world of martial arts quite early. He started practicing at the young age of 10. Kawar was a skinny child and unable to defend himself all the time. This led him to join Judo classes and then followed it up with karate.
When the Lebanese civil war broke out in 1975, Kawar had to move to France. There, he continued his association with martial arts and kept training in Karate. He also became a disciple of Kendo as well as Jiu-jitsu during his time in France.
Toufic Kawar mentioned that martial arts had a booming scene in Lebanon before the war had broken out. He hopes that the Martial Arts Festival will revive the martial arts scene in Lebanon. He also hopes that it will help Lebanon get back on to the international martial arts scene.
Since the year 1995, Sensei Toufic Kawar has been getting world champions of Karate to come to Lebanon and train students. This way, he helped in the promotion of the arts and disciplines which he loves. Kawar hopes to spread this love of martial arts among the people. Kawar got the idea of bringing the Martial Arts Festival to Lebanon after he had sponsored the Nuit Des Art Martaux in France. His vision is to expand the festival to the regions of North Africa and the Gulf.
According to Kawar, the festival is an opportunity for the people of Lebanon to witness the various talents from around the world in the fields of Karate, Shaolin and Muay Thai amongst others. He hopes that the exciting shows will help to boost the history of martial arts.
The Martial Arts Festival will be held over the course of two days with the venue being Marty’s Square located in Downtown Beirut. The festival promises to be a spectacular event. The famed monks of shaolin as well as the world champions in Judo, Kung Fu, Karate, Wushu, Nunshaku, Jiu-Jitsu and Taekwondo will be performing in this event. There will even be performances by 130 Lebanese champions, 70 professional athletes and even the Lebanese Army Special Forces.
The event is to be held under the patronage of the Tourism Ministry. The aim of this even is to teach the young on how they can master their body and their mind, overcome their weaknesses and learning mercy and compassion at the same time.
Sayfco Holding will be serving as the main sponsor for this event which is expected to be the biggest martial arts exhibition till date in the Middle East. Sensei Toufic Kawar has already stressed on the positive influence of martial arts on personal growth. At the same time, he hopes that this festival will become an annual event just like it is with the other capitals across the world.
More on MAF (Martial Arts Festival) Lebanon on this LINK.
And those are just the keynotes!
Great seeing you but did not catch what you were saying. LOL Did not know you were the main guy for martial arts! Nice to find out after all these years. Your Pensacola Florida friend.