Dubai Almost 300 athletes from 30 countries have confirmed their participation at the fourth Fazza International Athletics Championships that will be held at the Dubai Police Officers Club.
The athletes and various delegations have already started arriving for the event whose official start is today and is expected to end on Wednesday. However, action will get under way from 4pm on Sunday.
Thani Juma Berregad, chairman of the Higher Organising Committee, praised the efforts of all the committees entrusted with organising various aspects of the special needs competition.
"Once again we have been able to rise to the challenge of hosting such a quality field consisting of countries from across the world," Berregad said.
Preparation
"Our aim is to prepare disabled persons physically, spiritually, psychologically and intellectually and we firmly believe that we can empower our athletes by giving them opportunities to participate at the highest level," he added.
The Dubai Club for Special Sports was founded in 1993 and the club for girls was established in July 2002, upon a grant from Shaikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai and Minister of Finance, who directed the authorities to get the women involved.
The Fazza Heritage Championships have been organised for the past 12 years now under the auspices of Shaikh Hamdan Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of the Dubai Sports Council.
The Fazza Championship for Special Needs was added to the calendar in 2009 under the directives of Shaikh Hamdan Bin Mohammad.
