Dubai: Hosting international athletic championships in at least Dubai and Abu Dhabi is among the key objectives of incoming IAAF Council member Ahmad Al Kamali.
"My election to the IAAF is a huge step for athletics, not just in the UAE but in the entire region," Al Kamali told Gulf News after returning from Daegu, South Korea, yesterday.
Al Kamali, who is the President of the UAE Athletics Association (UAEAA), became the first Emirati to be elected to the elite International Amateur Athletics Federation (IAAF) Council at the conclusion of the 48th session of the IAAF Congress held at the EXCO Convention Centre in Daegu.
The UAE candidate polled a record 137 votes of the total 198 to become the first-ever UAE national to hold such a prestigious post in the IAAF for the next four years.
The three-member UAE delegation from Daegu was received at the VIP Majlis of the Dubai International Airport by Khalid Al Hussain from the General Authority of Youth and Sports Welfare (GAYSW), Sa'ad Awad Al Muhairi, Secretary General, UAE, AA and Saleh Mohammad from the UAE AA.
Brand UAE
The IAAF is headed by Senegal's Lamine Diack who got re-elected as President, while American Robert Hersh, Qatar's Jumaan Dahlan Al Hamad, Britain's Sebastian Coe and Ukraine's Sergey Bubka were elected as the four vice presidents.
"It is ‘Brand UAE' that gave me the edge in the elections. We now need to ride this wave and organise at least a couple of international athletic meetings in Dubai and Abu Dhabi to start with," Al Kamali suggested.
"We have the basic infrastructure in place. We have the best airports, best airlines, best roads, best transport system, best hotels. What we need now is two world-class tracks that can be laid out in a matter of six months. So I urge the UAE Government along with the Abu Dhabi and Dubai Sports Councils to back us up in this effort so that athletics can take the next big step in the region," he added.
Pay back time
Al Kamali, who was accompanied to Daegu by Liesa A. Euton, the UAE AA International Relations Director, further urged the corporates to step forward and back this effort of hosting a couple of international competitions in the country.
"The IAAF member nations have put their trust in the UAE by electing us. It is now pay back time," Al Kamali said.
The IAAF Council is the next in the hierarchy line after the president and four vice-presidents in the international amateur athletics set-up.
The first meeting of the IAAF Council will be held on September 4 in sync with the final day of the Daegu World Athletics Championships.
"There was severe pressure on me to pull out of the elections. But we were confident as we had put in a lot of hard work prior to the elections," Al Kamali noted.
