Boise, Idaho USA - After thirty-nine hours of traveling through ten time zones, the Yemeni Special Olympic floor hockey team landed in Idaho on February 3.  As they exited the airport, the Yemeni delegation was met with the sight of their first snow.  To the delight of the local Idahoan spectators, an intense snowball fight erupted, and the team hopped on their bus covered in snow, but all smiles.    After several days of adjusting to the new time zone and culture, the Special Olympic team proudly represented Yemen in the opening ceremony in front of thousands of cheering fans.  Ahmad Banajah was chosen to carry the glass globe for Yemen, which was carefully placed on the base of the Special Olympic torch, beside the globes from ninety-five other countries competing in the International World Winter Games.  Floor hockey competition began on February 7, and Team Yemen is off to a strong start.  They dominated their first pool against Chinese Taipei, Germany, and one of the many American teams who represent individual states.  In the first game, Yemen was down 2-1 to Chinese Taipei, before Yaser Al Farzaeai entered the game and scored three acrobatic goals in less than two minutes bringing cheers from the entire crowd.  After his third goal, he rewarded their cheers by dancing the bura’a in the middle of the court.   Team Yemen then shocked everyone by handily beating a much bigger German team 6-2.  With such convincing wins, the Special Olympic event organizers decided that it was unnecessary for Yemen to play their third scheduled game against the American red team, and moved them into the highest division.  Yemen was then grouped in a pool with Peru, Sweden, and Chile.  In the first match against Peru, Yemen demonstrated exceptional teamwork and stick handling and won easily 5-2.  Ahmad Al Hanini distinguished himself as one of the best players in the entire tournament and literally ran circles around the German defense showcasing an amazing repertoire of moves.  He scored twice in the match.  However, team Yemen then hit a road bump in the form of Team Sweden.  Sweden overpowered the much smaller Yemenis and despite solid play from goalie Banajah, Yemen lost the match 3-1.  “This is a challenge for our team.” said Yemeni head coach Hayat Farea.  “The smaller bodies of the Yemeni are to our disadvantage.  When we play teams from Europe and America, we are severely undersized.  We will need to change our tactics if we play them again.”  Not to worry though, as according to Al Farzaeai, “If we do get a second chance at Sweden, God willing, I think we can beat them.”In the final game of pool play, Yemen was faced with a do-or-die situation.  Should it wish to proceed to the medal rounds, it was imperative that it beat Chile.  After two and a half periods, the teams were still locked at zero.  But then Team Yemen started to click and with superior puck movement they earned goals from Yaser Al Farzaeai, Ahmad Al Hanini, Abdulhakim Al Kubati, and Esmail Al Raadi.  Goalie Ahmad Banajah gave another strong showing and Yemen came out on top 4-1.  Looking ahead to the upcoming medal round, Coach Farea says, “I think that the Yemeni athletes will have a very positive and successful experience.  I am very happy with the teamwork we have displayed and in particular the play of our defense.  Thank God we have remained healthy, and now, we are here to win.”  In agreement, Esmail Al Raadi, one of the team’s leaders, said “We are very proud of how we’ve played so far.  Now we want to play and we want to win.   We want to win for Yemen.”