UAE show not up to the mark - Al Fardan

Ahmed Al Fardan, the deputy president of the UAE National Olympic Committee and the head of the UAE delegation in Busan, stated that the team's performance in Busan was not up to the mark.

Al Fardan also reiterated that the UAE contingent couldn't fulfil the promises which they spoke about before their arrival in Busan.

"The team sports brought in poor results. But we don't want to judge and decide now. On our return to the UAE we will discuss the association's reports and then make a decision," said Al Fardan yesterday.

The UAE are participating in three team events at the Asian Games: football, handball and basketball. Al Fardan, however, was full of praise for bowler Shaker Ali who won a silver medal in the single event.

"We were sure that the bowlers would win medals. Shaker's silver was a result of the great efforts of the UAE Bowling Association chaired by Sheikh Saeed bin Hamdan Al Nahyan."

Al Fardan said that it was not a surprise that the bowlers had won medals. "In the 1994 Asian Games in Hiroshima they won three medals." He added that the UAE bowlers will win more medals in the coming events.

The UAE NOC deputy president said that the NOC would hold a meeting with the UAE Football Association to discuss their participation in Busan and what they had achieved.

Al Fardan said that no one was expecting the ladies shooting team to win medals. "Before we arrived in Busan we didn't ask them to win medals. The only thing we asked them to do was to achieve good results. And I think the qualification of two shooters Shamma Al Muhairi and Sunayia Mubarak to the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens is a good result."

Al Fardan felt that the UAE snooker team's poor performance was a big disappointment.

"I didn't expect them to win anything after they failed in the Emarat international tournament in Dubai last month against weaker sides. So little can be expected from them against the strong teams they met in Busan."

The NOC DP said that the NOC did not fully support the football team financially.

"The football team is not like the other national teams which receives full financial support. Sheikh Saeed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the UAE FA president, is supporting the team. We agreed with the FA to cover their expenses in Busan and they cover the expenses for the training camps".

Al Fardan also thanked the Dubai government for their huge financial support given to the NOC. I take this opportunity to thank the Dubai Government for their 6 million dirham support to the NOC.

"Without this support we could not have participated and prepared our teams for Busan in a good way. The financial support we received from the General Authority of Youth and Sports Welfare was not enough," he concluded.