Dubai The country's next Olympic gold medal may well be won by a local woman, according to the UAE Athletics Federation chief.
"Don't be surprised if one of our women athletes wins the next Olympic gold for the UAE," said Ahmad Al Kamali, President of the UAE Athletics Federation, after successfully organising a three-nation Dubai International Track and Field Meet at the Dubai Police Officers Club on Friday.
The inaugural meet was by invitation with top athletes from Iraq and Syria joining the UAE girls to prepare for next week's Gulf Womens Games to be hosted by Abu Dhabi. Iran was invited, but cancelled its appearance at the last moment.
Flashes of brilliance
With the Iraqi and Syrian athletes much better than the hosts, there were flashes of brilliance from the UAE girls as well with Saeeda Khamis standing out while re-writing the javelin throw national record for girls under-17 with a hurl of 29.25 metres.
"This is an indicator that the talent exists among our athletes. From now on it is just a question of keeping the focus and the hard work to ensure we meet this goal with a realistic time frame," Al Kamali stated.
This was the first time such a competition was held with women participating alongside the men, who were involved in the UAE inter-clubs Athletics Championships at the Dubai Police Officers Club. "For us this meet is also a learning process as we don't want this event to be a one-off competition. This is not only going to be an annual feature, but we will make sure we raise the level of competition and participation from next year," Al Kamali added.
At next week's Gulf Womens Games, Al Kamali is hoping the UAE will win at least five medals including three golds.
