Sky Dive Dubai backs UAE talent

Dubai: Sky Dive Dubai has announced the forging of local Emirati talent by bringing together six sporting disciplines under its umbrella with immediate effect. Starting this season, Sky Dive Dubai will have its organised presence in the powerboat, rallying, jet-ski, karting, Motocross and Formula Gulf scene in the UAE and abroad.

Former four-time UAE National Champion Rashid Al Ketbi will continue representing the Sky Dive Rally Team at the World Rally Championship (WRC) this season, while promising teenagers Saif Al Falasi and Jaber Al Falasi will run under the Sky Dive logo at various jet-ski competitions in the UAE and abroad.

Siblings Mohammad and Ahmad Al Muhairi will represent the team at various powerboat races; Jassim Nasser, Obaid Al Ketbi, Mohammad Al Shamsi, Abdullah Nasser, Khalid Khamis and Saif Al Kumaithi will constitute the Sky Dive Dubai Moto Cross team with Abdullah Saif as the manager.

Shaikh Hasher Al Maktoum will lead the Dubai Falcons Sky Dive Karting Team along with teammates Saeed Al Muhairi and Mohammad Al Mutawa’a, while Hadi Al Baloushi will be team director and Mike Wilkes becomes team manager.

The popular Formula Gulf 1000 series will also have the Sky Dive Dubai flag flying with Haitham Sultan the lone representative.

“For us this is an honest beginning. I can assure you that there will be more disciplines and more Emirati sportsmen who will come under the Sky Dive Dubai banner by next year,” Sky Dive Dubai Chairman Nasser Al Neyadi told Gulf News.

“We have just one goal in mind with this culmination of sports and talent. We want to ensure that the name of Dubai and the UAE has a reach using sports as a medium,” he added.

Rashid Al Ketbi, who is flying the Sky Dive Dubai banner at the 2013 WRC, created history of sorts at the beginning of the year when he and co-driver Karina Hepperle ended in a solid fourth position in the WRC2 category with their Skoda Fabia S2000 at the Monte Carlo Rally.

Al Ketbi and Hepperle now have a new car and the UAE driver is confident he can make an even bigger impact on the international stage due to the latest support from Shaikh Hamdan Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum’s Sky Dive Dubai.

“We may be newcomers on the scene, but the brand name is too huge. Dubai is known the world over and I am confident we can match this with our performances during the WRC season,” Al Ketbi said after disclosing that his next stop is the Portugal WRC later this month.