DUBAI The UAE swimming team will stand to benefit hugely as they prepare to travel to Europe for the annual summer training camp. While the senior team will begin a short camp in Hungary from May 9 to 19 consisting of four swimmers and a coach, the second batch of approximately 25 to 30 swimmers with two coaches and officials each will be part of the summer camp that will be held end of this month.
““The summer camp is the most important training period for the national team,” said Amr Badawi of the UAE Swimming Federation. “There will be around 30 swimmers training together for around a month that will help coaches to monitor them closely and help them build their skills,” he added.
Important assignments
The venue for the second camp is yet to be decided, but Badawi said Budapest would be the most preferred choice.
“It’s most likely to be Budapest since we share a good relation with the Hungary Swimming Federation. The senior team will remain the same but there are a few changes in the junior age group categories. We have new swimmers in the age groups of under-12, u-14 and u-16. The technical committee will choose the list of the swimmers to travel after the conclusion of the Emirates Swimming Cup 25M on May 23,” he added.
The summer camp will also help the UAE swimmers gauge their levels with important assignments lined up for this year.
Among them are the 16th FINA World Championships in Kazan (July and August), the 5th FINA World Junior Swimming Championship in Singapore (August), the GCC Gulf Countries Aquatics Championships in Qatar (September) and GCC Gulf Countries Sport Games in Saudi Arabia (October).
UAE national team coach Mohammad Al Zanaty said: “We have new plans. The most important step is to build strong age groups and juniors team. We also need to focus on senior swimmers as they have strong tournaments this year.”
UAE swimmer Yaqoub Al Saadi, who is excited about the camp said: “I’m looking forward to compete in Kazan 2015 to see the best swimmers around the world. It’s a great platform to learn from them and grow to become an international champion.”
Another UAE swimmer Mubarak Salem said: “This camp is very important for us as the summer will be tough with lot of important competitions. I will work hard and get the best results.”
