Project with A noble objective

DUBAI: Agreed it was a project taken up as part of her academics, but the effort put in by Fatima Sayah Al Qubaisi certainly needs to be lauded.

The fourth year student at the University of Abu Dhabi organised a couple of matches at the ice rink in Dubai Mall exclusively for girls, mostly comprising Emiratis, with a clear message to promote and generate interest in the game in the region.

"The main objective is to let people know that there is a strong presence of this game in the region and a lot of girls who are keen to play this game," Fatima, who plays for the Storms Abu Dhabi team, told XPRESS.

"The girls have the talent and it's just that we need proper support and I'm confident the girls can do a wonderful job even at the top level," she added.

Talent on show

The two games were played between Storms Abu Dhabi and Camels Dubai. The most interesting aspect of the second game was that the Storms Abu Dhabi consisted of only Emirati girls. Storms won both the matches.

"This just goes to show that there is a huge talent. This is the first time such an event is being held at the Dubai Mall ice rink.

"My main objective is to spread the game among the Emiratis and create interest which would attract more and more girls to come and participate in the future.

"Dubai have a team of their own and even Abu Dhabi have one but our target is to have teams from other emirates so that we have more number of teams to play against one another in the region.

"This would not only help us grow the game in the region but also build a strong pool to form a national team who can compete in international events," she stressed.

Fatima and her team mates have their regular practice at the Abu Dhabi Ice Rink located at Madina Zayed Sports City and have also taken part in a tournament in Hong Kong recently.

"Ice hockey has always been my hobby. I love the game. So when we had to submit our projects, I thought of doing something big and different. So I came up with this idea of promoting the game which I love the most among the Emirati girls.

"The crowd turnout for both matches was encouraging and I hope we can conduct more matches in future and get the right support," Fatima said, thanking her coach Seanna Murphy and assistant coach Louan Cortez for supporting her in the project.