Word: fasted
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...Fast Facts...
...bodied Muslims over the age of 12 are forbidden to eat or drink from sunup to sundown. Muslims believe that during this month the gates of hell close - meaning the devil is unable to tempt them during a month of discipline, charity and self-control. The objective of the fast, which also prohibits participating in "sensual pleasures" such as smoking, sex and even listening to music during daylight hours, is to diminish believers' dependence on material goods, purify their hearts and establish solidarity with the poor to encourage charitable works during the year. It's as much a period...
...Italy's sports pages duly took note of other Muslim players who observe Ramadan with varying degrees of strictness, including Siena's Abdel Kader Ghezzal, an Algerian who scored a goal against AC Milan on Saturday. Though a practicing Muslim, Ghezzal says he does not fast on training and game days during Ramadan. Inter's Muntari is more observant, though he reportedly ate pasta at lunch on Sunday, while refusing water before the match. Most imams say there are just a few groups of people exempted from the daytime fast, including pregnant women, the sick and the elderly. Though...
...individual, lack of food and water can limit performance. He recalls his experience working for the United Arab Emirates and Qatar national teams, which featured less robust players in 100°F (40°C) heat, saying their speed and stamina were indeed affected by the Ramadan fast. But Tirelli, a professor of integrated sports technique at Milan's Catholic University, warns against reducing athletic performance to a series of statistical charts. "It's right that we respect the values of science," he says. ""But mental strength, determination and, yes, religious force, for one month's time, can easily overcome...
...Italian journalist Massimo Donaddio noted in the daily Il Sole 24 Ore that Saudi Arabia's coach, at the recent World Athletics Championships in Berlin, declared that his athletes would strictly follow the Ramadan fast during the competition. The Saudis won exactly zero medals, writes Donaddio - but then, so did the Italians...