Dubai: Los Angeles Lakers legend Kareem Abdul Jabbar will headline the second Dubai Health and Fitness Weekend in aid of diabetes from October 28-31, it was revealed on Wednesday.
The announcement represents another major coup for organisers Dubai Sports Council and Maven Marketing and Events, after they brought fellow LA Lakers hero Kobe Bryant to last year’s inaugural event.
Abdul Jabbar, 67, is the National Basketball Association’s (NBA) all-time leading points scorer with 38,387 and is also third highest in terms of blocks (3,189) and rebounds (17,440). He also won a record six NBA Most Valuable Player Awards and was included in the NBA All-Star team on a record 19 occasions during a career that ran from 1969 to 1989. He was a member of six NBA championship-winning teams as a player and two as an assistant coach.
Like Bryant, Abdul Jabbar is set to meet fans, hold coaching clinics and discuss the importance of a balanced diet and healthy lifestyle in order to avoid diabetes.
The UAE is ranked ninth in the world in terms of diabetes sufferers per capita, with the disease accounting for 75 per cent of Emirati deaths and 31 per cent of expatriate deaths. Twenty per cent of the UAE’s population is currently suffering from the condition and by 2030 it is projected diabetes will be the seventh leading cause of death worldwide.
Maven Marketing and Events managing director Sarah Omolewu said Abdul Jabbar was the ideal candidate to engage the local community on the subject of healthy living.
“Kareem Abdul Jabbar is quite popular in the region, not just because he’s a basketball legend but in addition to that he is also a Muslim,” said Omolewu. “He took the Shahada [Islamic declaration of faith] twice and he has also been to The Holy City of Mecca twice. It’s something he said was a deeply rooted spiritual decision.”
Omolewu said full details of Abdul Jabbar’s itinerary in Dubai would be released after Ramadan.
“Just like last year one of our objectives is to utilise these big athletes to get across a key message of health and fitness,” she added.
“This year will be another initiative to engage the community. We will disclose full details of the weekend post-Ramadan, but we can disclose that he will be participating in a coaching clinic and he will also have some speaking engagements on the importance of health and fitness.”
Despite remaining tight-lipped on what the weekend would entail, Omolewu assured that the event would grow in stature year-on-year.
“This year we are actually looking for it to be bigger than last year. We are quite young, this is only our second year, but we are definitely looking to expand. It would be great if we could do this kind of event twice a year or perhaps have more grassroots programmes throughout the year.”
