19 July 2005
BEIRUT: On a side road barely tucked away from the bustle of the Sabra Palestinian refugee camp's main street, Naim Shahim's arcade is a thriving world of its own. Young boys crowd around the pool and foosball tables, cheering each other on and elbowing for a chance to compete with one another.
A large but inconspicuous gold frame, coated in a thin film of dust, is propped against a wall at the back of the room.
"Here is my passion: wrestling," Shahim said, waving an arm across the collage of photographs that have been carefully arranged for display.
One photo depicts Shahim wearing a traditional Palestinian headdress, posed before a match. Another captures him grinning and breathless after a match, half his face smeared with blood. In another snapshot, he is stands victorious in the center of the ring, arms raised, gloved blue fists pumping the air.
Shahim immigrated to Lebanon from Palestine at the age of three, and his enthusiasm for wrestling took hold not long after.
Shahim said: "I've lived in Sabra for over 50 years. Since then, I've wrestled in matches all over Lebanon and the Middle East, and in Europe as well. I fought some well-known wrestlers in my day and won my share of titles."
A professional wrestler until 2004, Shahim now focuses most of his time on running his entertainment center.
Shahim's 18 year-old son, Ahmad, stood by while his father reminisced. When asked if he wrestled too, he shook his head and laughed.
"I'll stick to pool and leave the wrestling to my father," he said.
