Ittihad officials regret stolen cup controversy

By Omar Al-HakamiOkaz/Saudi GazetteJEDDAH — The former president of Ittihad Sports Club, Ibrahim Alwan, has expressed regrets over a photograph of Saudi-Egyptian Super Cup, which the club had won in 2001, being published in local media.The photo showed the cup in the hands of a citizen, Ahmed Al- Zahrani, who claimed that he had bought it from Petromin Suq, an open market where cheap commodities are sold.“The matter is really regrettable and saddening. I wished that Al-Zahrani, who claimed that his son was a big fan of Al-Ittihad, had come to the headquarters of the club to meet the president and restore the cup to its right place among the hundreds of cups which Al-Ittihad has won during its long history in various games and championships,” he said.Alwan said that by doing so, Al-Zahrani would have been honored and his moral ethics would have been highlighted by the media. Instead he chose to go on satellite TV channels and in the newspapers with the cup in his hands claiming that he had bought it from the souq. This demands an explanation from him as to where he bought it, who sold it to him and how the cup was offered for sale in the first place.”Alwan also called for a police investigation so as to arrest the perpetrator who had stolen the cup from the club. “This is a precious cup. We should not keep silent about the matter,” he said.An Ittihad honorary member, Maj. Gen. Ibrahim Asiri, expressed deep anger over the incident. “Ahmed Al-Zahrani must be questioned to know how he got the cup and who sold it to him. The man who sold the cup to him must also be questioned to reach the real thief at the end of the day,” he said.Asiri said the club was supposed to regularly inventory the cups and shields it had won over the years. He questioned where the security guards of the club were whose duty it was to guard all the properties of the club.Salim Bin Mahfouz, another honorary member, asked for government intervention to resolve the riddle of how the cup was stolen and how it fell in the hands of Al-Zahrani. He said Al-Zahrani should have gone to the club with his discovery instead of going to the media.