Photos: Free Run Gaza hop, flip and scale through Delhi on a parkour tour
Updated On Apr 06, 2018 12:17 PM IST
Free Run Gaza is a parkour and free runner's group of young Palestinians based in Amman, Jordan. Using athletics and sports as a means of engaging young Palestinians and raising awareness of the conflict that defines their lives, the group presents those living in the besieged territories with an alternative non-violent form of expression. On a recent visit to India, HT Photographer Burhaan Kinu tracked a few of the group’s members as they scaled and jumped through Delhi on a tour testing the city’s parkour potential.
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Updated on Apr 06, 2018 12:17 PM IST
Uday Al Ajramy scales up a wall at the Lodhi Gardens in New Delhi. Parkour and free running, adapted from military obstacle courses, run on the philosophy of finding one’s own way through complex urban environments with speed and efficiency. Free Run Gaza are among the Middle East’s leading practitioners of this urban sport and its most famous Palestinian export. (Burhaan Kinu / HT Photo)
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Updated on Apr 06, 2018 12:17 PM IST
Formed in 2008 by Mohamed Loubad, who is also their trainer, Free Run Gaza has around ten members ranging from teens to young adults. The group acts as a means to focus the energy of the youth away from conflict enmeshed Gaza and its squalid refugee camps, providing them alternative forms of expression. (Burhaan Kinu / HT Photo)
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Passers-by look on as Mohammed Al Hendi does a headstand at Raj Path. The group found regional fame with its appearances on Arabs Got Talent, a variant of the American talent reality show and is now based out of Jordan after difficulties with Palestinian border closures made representing their country in parkour and free running tournaments difficult. (Burhaan Kinu / HT Photo)
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Updated on Apr 06, 2018 12:17 PM IST
Al Hendi ties a chequered black and white keffiyeh, a symbol of Palestinian nationalism. Through their appearances in international contests, Free Run Gaza aim to further awareness of the Palestinian cause through non-violent means and hoped to share their message of pushing on in the face of adversity during this visit to India. (Burhaan Kinu / HT Photo)
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As much as an art form as it is an athletic discipline, parkour with its running, scaling of obstacles and constant motion is an activity free from violence and religious or political factionalism. Runners in Palestine for instance, have developed routines even in the rubbled Khan Younis ruins after the 2014 Gaza bombardments. (Burhaan Kinu / HT Photo)
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Updated on Apr 06, 2018 12:17 PM IST
Travelling around Jaipur, Rishikesh and Delhi shooting videos for their fans back home, group members said this trip to India, a place the runners say they admire for its stand towards justice, was fruitful. (Burhaan Kinu / HT Photo)
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Updated on Apr 06, 2018 12:17 PM IST