Dubai: One of the top officials from the UAE National Olympic Committee (UAE NOC) has lauded the "unique feature" of the UAE squad making the trip to the 2012 London Olympics this summer.
"For possibly the first time in the history of the UAE we will have a squad with the majority of its members who have actually gone through the entire qualifying process to make the trip to London," Yousuf Al Serkal, Vice President of the UAE NOC, told Gulf News at the end of the general assembly chaired by Shaikh Ahmad Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum on Sunday.
"The main feature this time is our football team's qualification for London following their win against Uzbekistan earlier this month. And the second feature is that our sportsmen will be in London because they have qualified, and not because they have received invitations or wild cards or quota spots like a majority of times in the past."
The UAE's football squad entered the history books earlier this month when Mahdi Ali's boys came back from two goals down to pocket an entertaining 3-2 win against Uzbekistan in Tashkent to top their qualifying group.
And, besides the football squad, at least three shooters - Shaikh Saeed Bin Maktoum Al Maktoum, Shaikh Juma Bin Dalmouk Al Maktoum and Dhaher Al Aryani - have already qualified in the double trap and skeet events for London.
The UAE Athletics Association is also hopeful that at least three of its athletes will meet qualifying timings and make it to London when the qualifiers are held from July 27 to August 12. The nation is also expecting Shaikha Maitha Bint Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum to qualify to the taekwondo competition, along with one of its swimmers.
"This only means that sports in the UAE have progressed in the past four years and having our sportsmen qualify to a prestigious event like an Olympic Games gives us a completely different and glorious feeling. Definitely this shows we have made significant progress in our sports sector," Al Serkal said.
Al Serkal, who is also currently the Interim Committee President of the UAE Football Association (UAE FA), admitted that much of the credit for this progression has to go to the nation's leadership, led by President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
"He received the current and outgoing board of directors of the UAE FA and now we have Shaikh Ahmad gracing the general assembly of the UAE NOC. This is a significant step for us as this can only encourage us all towards greater heights. It also shows us that there is someone who cares about sporting activities in the UAE," Al Serkal said.
"Shaikh Ahmad's presence tonight conveys the important element that he cares for the various sports in the UAE, and that he is a hands-on person and someone who wants to know at close quarters what is happening."
