Pan Arab Games a huge plus for UAE athletes

Cairo: The closing ceremony at Cairo Stadium last night marked the end of the 11th Pan Arab Games and also a UAE record gold-medal haul.

But while many competitors produced excellent performances, with a number qualifying for the Olympics, the Games have, on the whole, been something of a disappointment in terms of organisation and athletic quality.

The UAE finished mid-table in the race for medals with 33 medals, including medals won in the disabled sport competition, but Ebrahim Abdul Malek of the National Olympic Committee (NOC) said he was delighted with the athletes who won gold in Egypt.

"Compared to the four gold medals that we won at the last Pan Arab Games in Algeria, we have this time won seven golds as well as three extra gold medals in disabled sport," he said.

"I believe that now we can move forward and next time we should be able improve on that even more."

The UAE's most successful sports proved to be endurance riding (two golds, a silver and a bronze), sailing (two golds and a silver), karate (one gold, two silvers and a bronze) and disabled sport (two gold, two silver and four bronze).

Table tennis medals

The UAE table tennis team, one of the last competitions to be contested in Cairo, also brought home the laurels by winning two bronze medals late on the final day.

There was some disappointment in cycling where the UAE failed to even make a mark and in chess where one gold and one bronze were considered to be a below-par performance for what has proved in the past to be a talented squad.

There were no surprises that hosts Egypt headed up the medal table. With more than 800 athletes competing, Egypt had the largest delegation.

And with 147 gold, 102 silver and 94 bronze medals in the main competition and an additional 27 gold, 16 silver and 12 bronze in the disabled Games, Egypt's final tally was 398 medals - 238 more than their nearest rivals, Tunisia.

In August, at the All-Africa Games in Algeria, Egypt beat the second-placed hosts by a single medal, with Tunisia running them a close third. Given the possibility that many of the dominant Arab-African nations' best competitors may have stayed away to focus on the Olympics, Egypt's success begins to look like a hollow victory.

Organisational issues were also a talking point at the Games with changing schedules and unfinished venues creating the most noise. However, these Games are also important politically and it would be hard to find an official from any Olympic Committee who would openly criticise the event.

And despite any difficulties in the administration of the two-week long competition, the Games were a success for the UAE at least.

Emirati athletes put down foundations for the future development of many sports, especially sailing, karate and shooting and many are now on course for a spot at the Beijing Olympics in China next year.