Dubai:  The President of the UAE Athletics Federation (UAEAF) is targeting direct entry of at least five athletes for the London 2012 Olympic Games.

"Omar Al Sulfa has 20.16 seconds as his best [in the 200m sprint] and Mohammad Abbas is 16.80 metres [triple jump]. In addition to these two athletes, we are looking for two more girls who will be in a position to qualify directly without taking assistance of the quota system," Ahmad Al Kamali, President, UAEAF told Gulf News.

"In addition, we have another boy whose best in 100 metres is 10.40 seconds at the moment. But that is not enough to qualify. But we are trying to get him to improve with another year to go," he added.

As per the International Olympic Committee (IOC), athletes from developing countries get an opportunity to compete alongside more accomplished nations based on a quota system. But Al Kamali simply doesn't want to rely on this.

Total revamp

"We don't want to hold on to any sort of quota. We refuse to use this facility from now on. We have two of our athletes [Al Sulfa and Abbas] who have qualified already. Our target is five athletes in London and we will achieve this. We need another three to rise to the level," Al Kamali confided.

Since taking over the UAEAF a couple of years back, Al Kamali has brought in a complete revamp in UAE athletics. Al Sulfa went on to create history for the UAE when he bagged a bronze medal in the 200m at the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games in China.

"We have tried to be as professional as possible in our dealings with our athletes. To start with, they are fully professional and even though they hold jobs and postings, they are not required to report for duty, but rather concentrate on their careers," Al Kamali said.

"Our goal is five athletes for the 2012 Olympics and I think we can achieve this if we keep a singular purpose in our minds," he added.

Once there, the UAEAF chief is quite practical about his athletes' chances.

"No doubt, Omar [Al Sulfa] is talented, but we cannot expect to go past the second round, be it in London or in a World Championships. But we have great hope in our triple jumper [Mohammad Abbas] as he is only 23 years old. We expect him to go very far in his event," Al Kamali said.

"His best so far is 17 metres and that is an achievement. He is at another level. This gives us a great hope that he may make it to the final. And then in the final it depends on luck. But he will at least give himself a good chance for a medal," he added.

All athletes are currently involved in various training camps as a build-up to their next competition. Abbas is in South Africa along with his coach for the past three months, while the girls have been taking periodic breaks from training to visit their families. The athletes are preparing for the IAAF World Championships to be held in South Korea from August 17-24.

"We don't want them to feel home sick," Al Kamali explained.

"We have worked out their training schedule in such a manner that they are able to give off their best and peak in time for challenges ahead," he added.