Weightlifters' work was well worth it

Dubai: Last week's qualification of athletes for women's weightlifting for the 2012 London Olympics had one person heaving a huge sigh of relief.

For that sigh was for the four years of relentless hard work that she had undergone in pruning a bunch of girls into possible champions in an unlikely sport like weightlifting.

"Getting the girls to attend our training sessions on a regular basis was one of the toughest things for me," Awatif Ebrahim Al Mutawa, general supervisor of the women's weightlifting team, said.

"We had to coax and cajole the girls to ensure they were regular, but what was even tougher was to convince the families merely because our society is not used to women being involved in sports, least of all something like weightlifting," she said.

That was four years ago, just after the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games when the board of directors led by Sultan Bin Mejren sat and pondered their move to ensure the UAE give itself a chance of an Olympic medal in the age-old sport of weightlifting.

After all the work and effort put in from all quarters, the current ten-member women's squad is slowly realising this dream. Their first step came last week when the squad of six competed in the 2012 Asian Championships — the Continental Olympic Qualification event held in Pyeongtaek, South Korea. They lifted enough to ensure the squad booked one of six places on offer for an individual lifter to make the trip to London.

Incidents

Al Mutawa recalled incidents when parents used to travel with their daughters at competitions and training sessions to be absolutely sure of their well-being.

"It took a long time to convince parents as it was tough as the parents needed to be assured that the girls also fared well academically. Luckily, they did over the past four years and that helped in convincing the parents to a large extent," Al Mutawa said.