Dubai: The Dubai International Marine Club (DIMC) honoured some eminent personalities in the UAE for their contribution to the development of watersports in the country on Tuesday.

Shaikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai and UAE Minister of Finance, Shaikh Ahmad Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, President of Dubai Civil Aviation Authority; Chairman of Dubai Airports; Chairman and Chief Executive of Emirates Airline and Group, Major General Shaikh Ahmad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, former President of the UAE Marine Sports Federation Saif Al Shaffar and ex-Managing Director and CEO of DIMC Saeed Hareb were among the prominent personalities who were honoured by Shaikh Majid Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Chairman of Dubai Culture and Arts Authority at the West Inn Hotel late on Tuesday.

This is the first annual felicitation function organised by the board of directors at DIMC.

Ali Juma Ali Bin Gulaitha, the acting CEO at DIMC, said they were pleased to recognise and honour such eminent personalities for their contributions in raising the profile of watersport in the UAE.

“We wanted to honour the contribution of all the people who not only helped sustain the health of watersport in the UAE, but who helped build up and take our sport to the stage,” explained Bin Gulaitha.

“We have more than 60 various watersport disciplines being held at the DIMC alone and much of the credit for having such a varied calendar goes to these personalities who have helped develop our sport to where it stands today. They have put in the hard work diligently and silently, they have volunteered their time and energies and we just wanted to acknowledge this by felicitating them,” Bin Gulaitha added.

Also felicitated during the function were the various winners of the watersports events held during the 2011-12 season.

“The UAE’s culture and heritage is linked so closely with the sea and that is the reason we have such a strong bond with marine sports,” he explained.

Finally, Bin Gulaitha acknowledged the contribution made by several partners over so many years including Dubai Police Rescue, Dubai TV, UAE Coast Guard and the Civil Defence to name a few.

“Much of our success as an entity and as a prominent sports facility lies with these silent soldiers and we want to thank them all,” Bin Gulaitha said.