Baghdad’s first skatepark set to open next week

The first ever skatepark in Bagh­dad is set to open next week, on Feb­ru­ary 1.

Locat­ed at the grounds of the Min­istry of Youth and Sports in the Iraqi capital’s cen­tre, entry will be free-of-charge for the public.

The skatepark has been five years in the mak­ing, and is being con­struct­ed by the Make Life Skate Life project, in col­lab­o­ra­tion with Bagh­dad Skatepark Project, Un Ponte Per, Iraq’s Min­istry of Youth and Sports, Suli Skatepark and others. 

There will be ramps and obsta­cles for skaters from begin­ner to advanced lev­els, with design being head­ed up by Aus­tri­an com­pa­ny East by West.

Com­ment­ing on its open­ing, Ishtar Obaid of the Olympic Com­mit­tee said: ​“We are thrilled to intro­duce Baghdad’s first skatepark, which will pro­vide a safe and wel­com­ing envi­ron­ment for all our youth to express them­selves and engage in men­tal and phys­i­cal activity.

“This park rep­re­sents more than just a place to skate,” she con­tin­ued. ​“It sym­bol­is­es a space for cre­ativ­i­ty, con­nec­tion and hope.”

Safeen Mohammed of Iraq’s first skatepark, Suli Skatepark, said: ​“Skate­board­ing is not just a sport; it builds com­mu­ni­ty. Find­ing a place in Bagh­dad to build a free and pub­lic skatepark was incred­i­bly challenging.

“It took more than five years of per­sis­tence, but final­ly the dream of hun­dreds of skaters liv­ing in Bagh­dad will come true,” he added. ​“The skate­board­ing com­mu­ni­ty in Iraq will grow from here.”

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