Dubai: The chairman of the Dubai Club for the Disabled (DCD) is expecting nothing short of qualification for the Asian Paralympic Games when the UAE plays host to the IWBF West Asian Championship here from May 10-14.
Seven teams from the region will join hosts the UAE in the Sixth Fazza International Wheelchair Basketball championship that will also act as the qualifier for the 2014 Incheon Asian Paralympic Games to be held in October.
The UAE have never won this annual competition, which is held under the patronage of Shaikh Hamdan Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of Dubai Sports Council (DSC).
The hosts’ best finish was third place in 2012, when Saudi Arabia went on to win the title.
“We always expect our team to finish first,” Thani Juma Berregad, Chairman, DCD and higher organising committee, told Gulf News. “The past is important as the various competitions have helped our team get prepared for this main qualifier that will take us to the Asian Paralympic Games.
“Our team has been in training in Al Ain for the past two weeks and I think we are ready to qualify and go to South Korea.”
Oman, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Palestine, Jordan, Iraq and Syria are the other teams in the fray, with the best three teams earning the right to participate in Incheon 2014.
The eight teams will be divided into two groups, with the best two from each advancing to the semi-finals. The final will be held on May 14.
Sponsored by Al Tayer Motors, Emirates NBD and Global Village, the annual competition is organised by the Hamdan Bin Mohammad Heritage Centre in cooperation with DSC.
The opening ceremony will be held in the presence of Maureen Orchard, President, IWBF, and Peter Dae Young Kang, General Secretary, IWBF, Oceania at the Al Ahli Club’s indoor hall on May 10.
