TUNIS (AFP) – With its beaches and year-round sun, Tunisia is not the most obvious home for the winter sport of ice hockey. Two years ago, Ihab Ayed quit his job in finance in the French capital to realize his dream of creating the North African country’s first ice hockey team. In 2014, the first ice hockey team from the birthplace of the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings played – and lost – its first game outside Paris. Ayed hopes that the Tunisian Ice Hockey Association – which is registered in France – can now become a legal entity in the North African country. The dream, he says, is to see Tunisia become “an affiliated member of the International Ice Hockey Federation” with its own Olympic ice rink.

Source: The North Africa Journal August 15, 2016 17:48 UTC