Setting up UAE national team 'will take time'

The UAE Squash Rackets Association is relishing the challenge of setting up a national team, but "it will take time" according to committee member Mohammad Mubarak Al Mutaiwaei.

Plans to jumpstart the sport under the UAE SRA banner received a shot in the arm after the governing body announced its partnership with UK-based Eventis Sports Marketing in Dubai yesterday. Al Mutaiwaei believes now that the first step has been taken, an all-UAE team is likely to be on the cards in the near future.

"It will take time to focus on that because we need a strategic plan to get started and need to run things according to it," he said. "The Association has a partnership with Eventis to make the sport popular and take it to the masses. We are also concentrating on schools to get more of the local kids involved so that we can plan better for the future and build a strong national team."