Dubai: Shaikh Rashid Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum will be the new President of the UAE National Olympic Committee (UAE NOC).
The brief announcement was made by Ebrahim Abdul Malek, Secretary General of the UAE NOC, during the NOC's general assembly held late on Thursday.
"We have accepted the resignation of Shaikh Ahmad Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, President Dubai Civil Aviation and Chairman and CEO of Emirates Group, and we are pleased to announce that Shaikh Rashid Bin Mohammad Al Maktoum will be the new president of the NOC," Abdul Malek told Gulf News.
Shaikh Rashid will run the office for the next four-year term until 2012.
"He is a great leader and a No 1 sportsman. The youth of this country have a leader by example. I am sure the various sports in the country will grow even more now under his leadership," Abdul Malek said.
Surplus fund
The general assembly of the UAE NOC was held to accept the statement of accounts of the country's highest sports body. He also announced a surplus of Dh23 million from the NOC budget.
During the meeting, the members also considered the resignation of Shaikh Ahmad.
"We cannot forget the tremendous contribution of Shaikh Ahmad to the development of sports in the country," Abdul Malek added. "We welcome Shaikh Rashid as the new president and we hope all sports bodies and federations in the UAE lend us the required support to make this country even more prominent on the international sports stage," the NOC Secretary General said.
"People have expectations from a sports-loving country like the UAE and we are confident a dynamic leader like Shaikh Rashid will lead us in the right direction." Also welcoming the appointment of Shaikh Rashid is long-time NOC Vice-President Ahmad Nasser Al Fardan.
Healthy scene
"Despite not achieving any medals at the Beijing Olympic Games, I would still say that the sports scene in the UAE is quite healthy," Al Fardan said.
"We have had good results during the Pan-Arab Games and the Asian Games in 2006. Perhaps what we missed during the Olympics is the experience of participating on a bigger stage," Al Fardan added.
"I want to welcome Shaikh Rashid as the president of the NOC as he comes with so much of valuable experience. He is a sportsman himself and he has a bigger role model in his father His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai. We are in a win-win situation wherein we can only benefit from here on," Al Fardan said.
Of the 19 member associations, 17 members have already been nominated and accepted for the new four-year term. Only missing are representatives from shooting and golf.
