Dubai: The UAE will be banking heavily on its three shooters to bag a medal at this year's London Olympics.
With three UAE marksmen — Shaikh Saeed Bin Maktoum Al Maktoum (skeet), Shaikh Juma Bin Dalmouk (double trap) and Dhaher Al Aryani (trap) — already qualified for the July 27 to August 12 Games, the country will be hoping for a second Olympic medal in shooting to match the performance of Shaikh Ahmad Hasher Al Maktoum, who struck gold in the double trap at Athens in 2004.
Hopefuls and top officials from all UAE sports associations gathered yesterday in an attempt to state their preparedness for the Games. As well as the three shooters, the country is hoping they will be represented by competitors in track and field, wrestling, weightlifting, judo, taekwondo and swimming — providing they can qualify.
"Historically, the UAE has qualified with a very nominal number of athletes for the Olympic Games. But this time we have three [shooters] who have already qualified and we are also expecting another ten to meet the qualifying mark in the next few months," Yousuf Al Serkal, vice-president of the UAE NOC (National Olympics Committee), told the media at a press conference yesterday.
Improvements
"We have good expectations from the athletics and the shooting teams."
The UAE NOC official was pleased with the improvements made in sports in the country recently. "There is a change and this shows the development of sports in the UAE. We no longer just qualify through invitation, but through actual competition," Al Serkal said.
A couple of swimmers from the UAE tested positive for drugs during the 2011 Arab Games in Doha, but Al Serkal said: "Our intention is to send a clean team to London. In fact, we did send a clean team to Doha too.
"The incident in Doha was a lack of awareness on the part of our athletes. It was not intentional and they got tainted due to the food supplements that they consumed without a proper awareness."
Ahmad Al Kamali, IAAF council member and president of the UAE Athletics Association, promised that at least three track and field athletes would make it to London.
"The next couple of months are the most important and we have done everything possible to ensure our athletes peak at the right time and qualify for the London Games," he said.
