Dubai: One of the top officials at the UAE National Olympic Committee has urged the corporate sector to become more involved in helping the country's athletes impress at London 2012.
"It is very important for the big UAE companies such as Emirates airline, Etihad Airways, Emaar, Etisalat and Dubal to get involved with the UAE NOC and our vision of developing sportspersons," Abdul Rahman Falaknaz, Director of Finance and Head of Marketing at the UAE NOC, told Gulf News on the sidelines of the signing of a partnership with Procter and Gamble yesterday.
Awaiting a response
"We have already approached these companies and we are awaiting some sort of response from them.
"I am sure there are possibilities of tie-ups with these big companies and we will hear something in due course of time."
Falaknaz also jointly heads the marketing for the UAE NOC's youth development initiative, ‘Road to Olympic Medals', along with Jeff O'Brien.
"There are a lot of promising youths out there and we need to encourage them, and to do this we need all the support we can get," Falaknaz said.
O'Brien disclosed the programme will start with the launch of the ‘Youth Olympics' concept that is scheduled to get underway under the auspices of the Ministry of Education from September.
More than 10,000 children will compete in five sports disciplines in two age groups (11-13 and 13-15) with 100 schools taking part.
"This will lead to the creation of a talent identity programme that will allow us to tap talent," O'Brien said.
