Born in Germany to Lebanese parents, Pacel and Ali Khachab are looking to represent their motherland, Lebanon, at the Summer Olympics 2021 in Tokyo.
The brothers, who have been skating the streets of Germany for the last 17 years, will partake in the sport’s debut at the Olympics. If they win, they dream to build a skate part in Beirut.
But to practice for the Olympics, they had to resort to crowdfunding to raise enough money to build an indoor skate hall in Munich, where they currently live.
According to Pacel, there hasn’t been an indoor skate hall in Munich for the last 12 years. “If you want to be prepared for the Olympics, then it’s important that you have a place to train,” he explained to Reuters.
“And in Lebanon, there isn’t a single skate park, at least not in Beirut,” he said, adding that he and his brother would like to change that.
“So if we are successful in setting up our skate hall [in Munich] and maybe have some success in the Olympics, then we would love to build a skate park in Lebanon, and if possible, especially in our hometown in Beirut,” he said.
Furthermore, after resorting to crowdfunding, they got enough to first payments to launch their project “Skate hall for Munich” which they hope to open in April.
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