The victorious UAE junior squad, led by quadruple gold medallist Salem Abdul Rahman, returned yesterday from the Arab Junior Chess Championships which concluded on Thursday in Doha.
Officials with the UAE junior team who participated in the Arab Chess Championship in Qatar. ©Gulf News |
Also collecting further accolades were two girl players who bagged their FIDE Master titles.
The UAE squad was welcomed at the Dubai International Airport by Abdul Rahman Al Shamsi, president of the UAE Chess Association (UAE CA) and board member Abdullah Al Amiri.
Abdul Rahman was the toast at the short but poignant celebrations held at the airport's Ahlan Hall yesterday. The gold medal was his fourth in as many years in this competition.
Abdul Rahman won the under-10 Arab title from 2001 to 2003, and this year added the under-12 crown to his collection.
He earned his FIDE Master title when he was barely eight years old.
"These are the kids for the future of chess in this country," said Mehdi Abdul Rahman, who was the chief arbiter at the Arab Junior Chess Championships.
"The gold medal from Shaikh Ahmad Mohammad Hasher Al Maktoum couldn't have come at a better time. The Government now needs to focus on individual games as there may be many more medals in the future, should this happen."
The second medal for the boys came when Saeed Ishaq finished second in the under-12 category.
The other four medals were won by the girls with sisters Amal Abdul Aziz and Eman Abdul Aziz winning the under-10 and under-12 titles along with the WFM bonus.
Fayeqa Saleh won the gold medal in the girls under-14, while Khadijah Mallalah took silver in the girls under-12 category.
"We were always confident of what our players could achieve," said Dr Fatma Al Hadi, who accompanied the team to Doha. "I had people from other countries coming and expressing surprise at the high level of play from our players," she said.
"We can only hope this trend continues. And this winning streak can continue if the youngsters get the support."
The Junior Arab Chess Championships saw participation from 64 players in the six age categories from 11 countries.