Sport | Other Sports
Dubai has capacity to shock with its achievements: Khalid
Olympian says better training facilities will help UAE rise as a sporting force.
- By Alaric Gomes, Senior Reporter
- Published: 22:51 June 30, 2009
- Adil Khalid has welcomed the news of Dubai's Olympics bid.
- Image Credit: Supplied picture
Dubai: Adil Khalid, the UAE's lone Olympian in sailing at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, rues the fact that he doesn't have a structured training programme to date - but he can't hide the enthusiasm as he speaks of Dubai's bid for the Olympics.
"I am so thrilled to have His Highness Shaikh Mohammad announcing that Dubai wants to bid for the Olympics. In the past, Dubai has shown a tremendous will to succeed in anything it undertakes, and I am confident it is no different this time, too," he said.
"Dubai has the capacity to achieve and, moreover, we have the ability to shock the world with our achievements," he said.
However, Khalid voiced his concern about the lack of welfare and training support for sportspersons, especially those like himself who have represented the country at the Olympics. "I do not even have proper training facilities or a programme that I can follow even after one year of the last Olympic Games," he said.
Qualifying through a series of competitions in Europe, Khalid participated in the Laser Standard class sailing in Beijing to finish 42nd at the end of the Olympic competition last year. However, since then, he said, he had not been able to take part in any programme that would help him improve his ability.
"Perhaps the UAE National Olympic Committee (UAENOC) or the General Authority of Youth and Sports Welfare (GAYSW) needs to start putting sportsmen on achievement-based contracts. We need to start now," Khalid said.
And now with His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, making known his vision for the 2020 Games, the sailor stated that one of the possibilities would be to involve the corporate sector in funding such initiatives.
"We need a sustained effort and, not only from the officials and sportspersons, but from the corporate sector here," Khalid said.
The sailor cited the case of China and the methodology involved in its rise as the biggest medal winner last year. "They set a goal and went about achieving it in a systematic manner. We are a rich nation and there is the will from the leaders such as Shaikh Mohammad. I don't see any reason why we cannot rise and be a top sports country in the next few years," he said.
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