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SPORT AND LEISURE SPORT AND SPORTING FACILITIES in the UAE have benefited enormously from the consistent support provided by the Government and leadership since the foundation of the state. The primary focus has been on encouraging the youth of the country to develop their physical skills through sport. This has been achieved primarily through the establishment of sports clubs with facilities for football, basketball, handball, table tennis, volleyball, swimming, athletics, chess and snooker. Boy Scout and Girl Guide troupes in each of the seven emirates also foster sporting activities. The Public Authority for Youth and Sport (PAYS) is now launching a new campaign to upgrade facilities. Work is already underway on new sports complexes in Ra’s al-Khaimah and Sharjah and similar state-of the-art sports facilities are being built in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and other emirates. Each complex will have an Olympic size swimming pool and tennis courts, besides facilities for indoor games. The ultimate aim is to host the 2006 Arab Games, but the upgraded facilities will also be used to encourage school-going children to participate in competitive swimming and tennis. There is also a deep awareness that heritage activities such as camel racing, horse racing and traditional sailing are extremely important for the well-being of the country; these sports are, therefore, a focus of government sponsorship. In addition, the growth of a sophisticated tourism infrastructure has meant that private sporting facilities in the UAE are among the best in the world. As a result of these exciting developments, UAE citizens now participate enthusiastically at home and abroad in a wide range of sports, from endurance racing to motor rallying, powerboat racing to target shooting, basketball to bowling, golf, cricket and even ice hockey. A series of prestigious international sporting events is also staged in the Emirates. FOOTBALL Football remains the most popular sport in the UAE. Promotion through football clubs at schools and colleges, as well as at local, regional and national level,

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has paid dividends in terms of raising the standard of the game in the country. Thirty-one football clubs, each with around 150 players, are currently affiliated with the UAE Football Association (www.uae-football.org.ae), which was established in 1971. The UAEFA joined FIFA in 1972, followed by both the Arab Football and Asian Soccer Federations in 1974. Football stadiums have been built throughout the UAE, but the pièce de résistance is Zayed Sports City, the biggest sports complex in the Middle East. In May 2001, Sheikh Saeed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the Al Wahda Sports and Cultural Club and a keen football enthusiast, took over the Presidency of UAEFA. A priority for the new chief and his reconstituted committee was the World Cup Asia Zone Group B qualification campaign. One of UAE football’s greatest feats had been its qualification for the 1990 World Cup finals in Italy, where the UAE senior national team gallantly locked horns with football giants, including Germany and Yugoslavia. Unfortunately, this achievement could not be repeated in 2001 and the national team’s luck ran out after a promising 3-2 win over Yemen on 18 May. Following this victory Abdulla Saqr, the interim coach, became the first UAE national to be named as head coach. However, Saqr quit in September after back-to-back losses to China and Qatar. His assistant Tini Ruijz was named as head coach until Dutchman Martinys Johannes was finally appointed to the position. Nevertheless, there was some good news on the horizon. Following their successful hosting of the Asian Cup in 1996 and various AGCC championships, FIFA selected the UAE to host the 2003 World Youth (Under-20) finals. The UAE was in competition for this event with South Korea, which is co-host to the 2002 World Cup tournament with Japan. The UAE now becomes the third Gulf state, after Saudi Arabia (1989) and Qatar (1995), to stage the world youth finals. The UAE is particularly proud of the success achieved on the international stage by the national referee Ali Bujsim. Following his wonderful performance in the 1994 and 1998 World Cup finals in the USA and France respectively, Bujsim has now become the symbol of good football refereeing in local and regional football circles. CAMEL RACING Camel racing, a traditional sport, is extremely popular in the Emirates. Originally staged informally, at weddings or special festivals, camel racing now takes place on customised tracks that have been built throughout the Emirates. Camels

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are bred exclusively for racing and race meetings are held in the winter months from October to April, culminating in the annual five-day camel race festival at Abu Dhabi’s Al Wathba track, which attracts entrants from all over the region. Sheikh Zayed’s sponsorship of the Zayed Grand Prize at the festival is an indication of the special focus and encouragement given to the revival of heritage sports. Total cash prizes of Dh10 million are on offer for winners of the 112 individual races held during the festival. The necessity to formulate rules and regulations for the sport has required the establishment of the Camel Racing Federation. Under the chairmanship of Sheikh Hamdan bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the federation is now responsible for guiding and controlling camel racing events in the Emirates and promoting its popularity abroad. The federation sponsors camel racing in countries such as Mauritania, Australia and Germany. EQUESTRIAN SPORTS The horse has been an essential part of life in the Arabian peninsula for over 2000 years, as has been shown by the discovery of burials at Mleiha, in Sharjah where individuals were buried together with their prized stallions, the latter being bedecked in golden harness. Until recently the relationship took the form of an enduring partnership based upon survival in one of the world’s toughest environments. With the arrival of prosperity, the Emirati’s relationship with the horse made a crucial shift from survival to recreation. Today, all forms of equestrian sport are enormously popular in the UAE, but the purebred Arabian horse still holds pride of place. In 1985 the UAE joined the Federation Equestre International (FEI) and in 1992 the UAE Equestrian and Racing Federation under the chairmanship of Dr Sheikh Sultan bin Khalifa Al Nahyan was formed with the mission to promote and sponsor equestrian sport in the UAE. Since the federation’s inception, equestrian sport has become focused and highly successful. Racing has already taken its place on the world stage and show jumping and endurance riding are now following its lead. Other equestrian associations, such as the Abu Dhabi Equestrian Club, under the chairmanship of Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, also organise equestrian events within the UAE.

Horse Racing Professional racing as it is now practised in the UAE began as recently as the 1991/1992 season. Both thoroughbreds and purebred Arabian horses are

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raced. During the 1990s the sport enjoyed phenomenal growth and the country now boasts a number of prestige racing venues where regular meetings are held during the winter months. Located a short drive from the city centre, Abu Dhabi Equestrian Club is one of the region’s most impressive venues for horse racing and show jumping events. In addition to a golf course, the club has two race tracks, one fibre sand and one fibre turf, and extensive training facilities, including an equine swimming pool and an indoor show jumping arena. Up to 16 race meetings are held at Abu Dhabi Equestrian Club from November to April each year, including The President’s Cup, National Cup Day and Emirates Championship. The Dubai World Cup (www.dubaiworldcup.com), the world’s richest horse race with prize money of US$6 million, is staged in spring each year at the well-appointed Nad al-Sheba racecourse, close to Dubai city centre. Other races in the World Cup festival (at US$15.25 million, the richest race meeting in the world) include the UAE Derby, the Dubai Kahayla Classic for Purebred Arabians, The Dubai Duty Free, Dubai Sheema Classic, Dubai Golden Shaheen and Godolphin Mile. All the races have Group status whilst the World Cup has been awarded the sport’s coveted Group One classification, which places the race on a level with the Derby, Oaks and Arc de Triomphe classics. The sixth World Cup, held on 24 March 2001, was won by the American challenger, Captain Steve, reversing the trend whereby UAE-Godolphin trained horses had triumphed in 1999 and 2000. The Dubai World Cup is the first event in the Emirates World Series. Fantastic Light, trained by Saeed bin Suroor for Godolphin, was crowned Emirates World Series Champion 2000 after winning the Group One Hong Kong Cup in December 2000. Other prestigious events in the UAE racing calendar for 2001/2002 are the UAE 1000 Guineas, the UAE 2001 Guineas and the UAE Oaks. UAE-trained thoroughbred horses have also achieved remarkable success abroad as part of the Dubai-based Godolphin stable, and are now a prominent feature at all major international races. Dubai Millennium, who died in 2001, was one of the best known Godolphin horses on the international circuit. A series of international race meetings featuring purebred Arabians, a sport dear to Sheikh Zayed’s heart, obtains the widespread support and sponsorship of organisations such as the UAE Racing and Equestrian Federation. UAE horses regularly participate and win prizes in these events.

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Endurance Racing Endurance racing involves long-distance riding over a gruelling course under strictly controlled conditions for horse and rider. Purebred Arab horses, bred for stamina in inhospitable terrain over thousands of years, are particularly suited to this demanding sport, which is one of the reasons it has become immensely popular in the UAE, with national teams dominating in top-class events at home and abroad over the past decade. The UAE’s season begins in late December each year at the Seih Assalem Endurance Village where the biennial world championship was held in 1998. Numerous races are held throughout the year featuring both novices and well-tried champions, including the FEI-UAE World Cup that was won by Abdullah Bilhab. In April 2001, Sheikh Hazza bin Zayed Al Nahyan won his first ever endurance ride in the Al Wathba Endurance BodyWeight Ride held at the Endurance Village. The FEI Emirates Worldwide Ranking was established in 1999 by the FEI in cooperation with the UAE Equestrian and Racing Federation and includes most of the major FEI rides on the international circuit. Sheikh Rashid bin Mohammed Al Maktoum was the lead rider in the inaugural year, 1999. Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed replaced his brother Sheikh Rashid as the world’s top-ranked rider in the year 2000. In October 2001, the UAE as defending team champions retained the European Open Endurance Championship title in style and also swept the individual championship with a one-two finish to assert their supremacy in the biennial 160-kilometre race held in Perugia, Italy. The architect of the UAE superb double triumph was General Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and UAE Minister of Defence. Sheikh Mohammed’s sons, Sheikh Rashid and Sheikh Hamdan, were key members of the UAE team. Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, Saeed Abdulla Al Qitbi and Abdulla Bilhab were the other three riders who completed the UAE line-up. The team gold medal coupled with the individual gold and silver more than made up for a narrow loss at the world championships in Compiègne, France, in 2000 when Bilhab’s lame horse shattered the UAE’s hope of the winning team gold. The endurance team members had a number of major successes during 2001. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, who participated in very few rides in the UAE but went on to win the inaugural BodyWeight, later took part in the Al Ahram ride in Egypt to record his second successive triumph there. In July,

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Sheikh Mohammed won a 102-kilometre ride in Villacastin, Spain. His son, Sheikh Hamdan was also in superb form as he finished first, ahead of 81 riders from 17 countries, in the inaugural World Endurance Championship for Junior riders held in Villacastin in September. Sheikh Hamdan’s performance ensured that the UAE won the world junior silver behind hosts Spain. Sheikh Hamdan’s younger brother Sheikh Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Maktoum was in fifth place and the young Sheikh Khalid bin Sultan bin Zayed Al Nahyan in fifteenth place. The efforts of the UAE equestrian authorities to make endurance riding an Olympic sport received a major boost in May 2001 when the FEI formed a subcommittee to examine the feasibility of including it as an Olympic discipline. Faisal Seddiq Al Mutawa, secretary-general of the UAE Equestrian and Racing Federation, was named chairman of the subcommittee. The committee’s main target will be to work towards making endurance a demonstration event at the Athens Olympics before finally being accepted for the 2008 Olympic Games. All of the 22 rides sponsored by the UAE Equestrian and Racing Federation in the US, Europe, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa are now held under FEI rules.

Show Jumping Show jumping has also increased in popularity in recent years, in line with the impressive developments in facilities such as air-conditioned indoor arenas. This has resulted in a marked improvement in the standard of competition and junior riders are now being given the opportunity to compete abroad. Two competitors from the UAE, Arif Ahmed and Ahmed Al Juneibi, were selected to participate in the FEI/PSI Junior World Challenge final held in Hagen, Germany, from 2 to 9 July 2001. The riders competed on borrowed horses selected by draw from Paul Schockemohle’s stables. The invitation to the UAE riders was extended on the basis of their outstanding results during 2000. Sultan Mohammed Al Marzouki, winner of the 2001 FEI Children’s International Show Jumping Championship in Abu Dhabi, participated in the World FEI Show Jumping Championship final, held in Florida, USA, from 26 November to 3 December. UAE’s Claire Al Redhas and her horse, Boran III, qualified for the Queen Elizabeth Show Jumping final in Hickstead, UK. Claire had earlier represented the UAE in several international competitions.

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Polo Polo has been played in the UAE since the Dubai Polo Club was established 25 years ago. In recent years it has become so popular, especially amongst local players, that the Emirates Polo Association was formed to organise the game on a more professional basis. The UAE is now on the international polo circuit, a remarkable achievement in such a short space of time. The UAE enjoys the major advantage of an eight-month polo season, as compared to an average five-month season elsewhere in the world. Sponsorship is important to the development of the sport, as is the determination to encourage young players. The plush Ghantoot Polo & Racing Club, about an hour’s drive from Abu Dhabi, has four floodlit polo fields, a racing grandstand and polo school, amongst other facilities. The polo season featuring regular chukka tournaments and major international events runs from mid-October to April. GOLF Less than three decades ago golfers were restricted to playing on oiled sand, putting on ‘browns’ rather than greens. Today, proponents of the fastest growing sport in the UAE can take their pick of 11 major golf courses throughout the country, many with distinctive clubhouses, immaculate greens and lush fairways. Some of the courses are of such a high standard that they have been chosen to host major international golfing tournaments. Three challenging PGA championship golf courses and five additional courses are open to visitors. All the major golf courses have a range of additional facilities, including quality pro-shops and dedicated coaching facilities with PGA qualified professionals. Abu Dhabi Airport Golf Club, one of the newer clubs, is an 18-hole, 6450yard, par 71 sand golf course situated 400 metres from the terminal. It features an English-style hilltop clubhouse, swimming pool and tennis courts and an advanced training facility. Abu Dhabi Golf Club By Sheraton, another relatively new club, this time in Umm al-Nar, just outside the capital (wwwadgolfsheraton.com), features two world-class 18-hole superbly landscaped golf courses, a challenging 7204yard, par 72 fully mature National Course and a 6524-yard, par 72 Garden Course which is described as ‘more forgiving’. Nine holes of the latter are floodlit. Mature date palms and ornamental trees surround a spectacular clubhouse built in the shape of a large falcon swooping down on a golf ball. Extensive practice and training facilities are available and the club has an

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impressive range of leisure facilities, including tennis, squash, fitness centres and swimming pools. Abu Dhabi Golf & Equestrian Club has a nine-hole, 6365-yard, par 70 fully floodlit course located at the club’s racetrack that runs through the course, providing a formidable challenge on four holes. Facilities include clubhouse, golf academy, bars and restaurants, floodlit tennis courts, swimming pool and pro-shop. At Dubai Creek Golf and Yacht Club, in the heart of the city, the main 18hole, floodlit par 72 grass course, which forms the centrepiece of this leisure complex, has excellent views of the Creek. There is also a nine-hole, par three floodlit course. A unique clubhouse design echoes the billowing sails of a traditional Arab dhow. Other facilities include a 115-berth marina, tennis courts, picnic and barbecue sites, cycling and jogging tracks. Emirates Golf Club on Sheikh Zayed Road is 20 minutes from Dubai city centre. The club has two challenging 18-hole, par 72 grass courses. The main 18-hole course is 7100 yards, playing to par 72. The second 18-hole features a range of daunting bunkers and water hazards. A striking clubhouse is built in the shape of a series of bedouin tents. The club also has a swimming pool, tennis courts, squash courts and snooker room. Jebel Ali Hotel and Golf Resort Dubai, located about 30 minutes from Dubai city centre, is a nine-hole, par 36 course with a central seawater hazard. There is also a driving range with bunkers and target greens. A wide range of facilities is available at the resort. Nad al-Sheba Club, Dubai, features a floodlit 18-hole links-style course playing to par 71. The course has eight lakes and more than 110 pot bunkers. Situated about 15 minutes from Dubai city centre, this is a short course, the emphasis being on accuracy. The first nine holes are located inside the famous Nad al-Sheba racetrack with the second nine outside the track. There is also a large driving range, a practice putting area and chipping greens. Dubai Country Club (www.dubaicountryclub.com) is the oldest club in the Emirates. It features an 18- and a nine-hole sand course. Golfers are issued with a small piece of artificial turf to play off when on the fairways. Al Ain, Ruwais and Sharjah also have golf courses, with others deep in the desert or on offshore islands used by the oil industry. One of the most dramatic of these is at Shah, just inside the Empty Quarter, where the fairways and dunes are overlooked by dunes that tower over 200 metres above them. There are no bunkers like them anywhere in the world!

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Amateur golf in the UAE is organised and promoted by the UAE Golf Association (UGA) (www.ugagolf.com) which was formed in 1996. UGA, with 3500 members, is overseen by a board of directors under the General Authority of Youth and Sports Welfare and is affiliated to the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews, WAGC, Ladies Golf Union, the Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation, the GCC Golf Committee and the Arab Golf Federation.

Dubai Desert Classic The UGA assists the Dubai World Trade Centre in the management of the Dubai Desert Classic (www.dubaidesertclassic.com), a centrepiece tournament of the European Tour that is staged at either Dubai Creek or Emirates Golf Club in March each year. The hugely popular event offers a total prize of US$5 million. Tiger Woods played the twelfth Dubai Desert Classic in March 2001 along with golfers representing more than 30 countries. Unfortunately, Woods missed his first victory of the season when he double-bogeyed the final hole to give Thomas Björn the title. It was only the fourth time that Woods has failed to win when leading going into the final round. The 2002 Dubai Desert Classic is scheduled from 7 to 10 March at Emirates Golf Club. MARINE SPORTS It is not surprising, considering its location, weather conditions and strong maritime heritage, that marine sports are pursued with great vigour in the UAE. Facilities have been improving over the years and in November 1998 the new Abu Dhabi International Marine Sports Club (ADIMSC) building was officially opened at Abu Dhabi breakwater. The Club is a gift from Sheikh Zayed to the youth of the UAE to ensure that suitable training facilities are available for marine sports. Both ADIMSC and Dubai International Marine Club (DIMC) organise powerboat racing, jetskiing and waterskiing championships, windsurfing, yacht and dingy racing as well as traditional sailing and longboat events.

Powerboat Races World championship powerboat races are staged each year in the UAE. The penultimate stages of the inshore UIM Formula One are held off Abu Dhabi and Sharjah in October/November, complementing final rounds of the offshore UIM Class One races held off Dubai and Fujairah, also in October/November, and Class II offshore championships off Abu Dhabi. ADIMC and DIMC also organise powerboat races throughout the year.

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The UAE’s own Victory teams (www.victoryteam.org.ae) have had notable successes on the world circuit over the 12 years that they have been competing. This success was repeated again in October/ November 2001 when Saeed Al Tayer and Mohammed Al Marri took the UIM 2001 Class One World Championship Title in Victory 7 in a fierce battle with team mates Ali Nasser and Ali Al Qama crewing Victory 1. The latter were second in the final race which was held off Dubai in very difficult sea conditions. Ali Tayer became the only Arab to win three world titles. Victory 1 crew Ali Nasser and Ali Al Qama also emerged as world champions in Class II when they took second place in the third and last round organised by ADIMSC. This was the fourth time that Ali Nasser had won the title, the last three times with the legendary Khalfan Harib, now team manager. Victory 7, with Mohammed Al Marri and Saeed Al Tayer, won the final race to take the second place in the championship. The ADIMSC boat driven by UAE’s Rashid Al Hamli and Ahmed Al Hamli finished second both in the world title and in the third round with 900 points, after winning the second place for the third successive race. Sharjah hosted the tenth round of UIM Formula One Powerboat World Championship at Khalid Lagoon in October 2001. Abu Dhabi hosted the penultimate round and the twelfth and final round was held in Brazil in December 2001. The Victory Team had already achieved a string of successes on the European circuit throughout the summer, including a one-two finish in the Italian Grand Prix in Trieste. Ali Nasser and Ali Al Qama also produced a championship performance in the Colour Line Scandinavian Grand Prix in Oslo to become the Class 1 European Champions in Victory I.

Sailing The UAE is particularly keen to foster traditional marine sports and sailing races are held at regular intervals from October to May. Large numbers of majestic wooden dhows, some as big as 60 feet, assemble at the start line, evoking the customs of a bygone era. Competition is intense and great attention is paid to the preparation of the boats and their massive rigs. Longboat races also paint an impressive picture as their tightly packed crews labour at their oars, propelling their svelte boats through calm inshore waters under the appreciative gaze of spectators. The Sir Bu Nu’air Island race brings to a close the sailing season for the UAE.

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Sheikh Zayed’s sailing dhow, Serdal, won the championship in the 60-foot traditional dhow sailing races for the 2000–2001 season against a record 89 competing dhows. Although traditional sailing takes pride of place, all forms of sailing are encouraged. The first-ever Asian Optimist Championship was hosted by the Dubai International Marine Club (DIMC) from 1 to 6 January 2001. Singapore beat the favourites, Malaysia, by 2 to 1 in the final. The UAE team put up a good show, considering that they had only been introduced to the Optimist a short time before the competition. Larger boats are also catered for by the Dubai-Muscat President’s Cup Regatta, one of the two UAE-based events to feature on the ISAF (world sailing federation) calendar, which commences each March off DIMC, to conclude in Muscat later in the month.

Diving and Snorkelling The waters of the UAE offer a range of diving and snorkelling to suit all levels of experience. The reefs and spectacular wrecks along the Abu Dhabi/Dubai coasts where there is relatively little tidal movement and slack currents offer relatively sheltered diving. The East Coast is different again with upwellings from the Indian Ocean encouraging a greater diversity of marine life. Off the coast of Khor Fakkan and Fujairah there are more than ten dive sites within just a few minutes’ boat ride from the shore. Typically some of the best sites are submerged rocks that have been colonised by soft corals. There is abundant tropical fish life and turtles are commonly sighted. The diving gets steadily more demanding and more varied as the coast runs northwards. From the ancient town of Dibba it is possible to reach a wealth of deeper dive sites off the Musandam peninsula, part of Oman, and within half an hour’s boat ride. Mountains that plunge directly into the ocean are covered in soft corals to depths of 40 metres and a cave system offers exciting diving for experienced and suitably qualified divers. The Emirates Diving Association (www.emiratesdivers.com) is responsible for the organisation of diving in the UAE. MOTOR SPORTS Rallying is another popular sport in the UAE, particularly since UAE national Mohammed bin Sulayem has over 60 international rally victories under his belt, including 12 Middle East championships. The 2001 season commenced in

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January with a dramatic victory by Sulayem in the ADNOC Distribution UAE International Rally in Abu Dhabi, the opening round of the FIA Middle East series. Sulayem, the Arab world’s only A class seeded driver, went on to win the Jordan International Rally and the Bahrain International Rally in 2001. The five-day UAE Marlboro Desert Challenge that takes place in the UAE in October/November each year is the final round of both the FIA Cross Country Rallies World Cup and the FIM Cross Country Rallies World Cup. Other national events include the Emirates Motor Sports Federation Drakkar Noir 1000 Dunes Rally, the only 24-hour non-stop rally of its kind in the whole region. TENNIS Assisted by the splendid facilities on offer throughout the country and heavily promoted by the UAE Tennis Association, tennis is a much-favoured sport in the UAE, both at amateur and professional level. The world’s top players regularly compete in the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships (www.dubaitennischampionships.com) comprising the Sanex WTA Tier II WTA Women’s Tournament, staged from 19 to 24 February in 2001, and the Dubai Men’s Open, a US$1 million ATP Tour World Series event, which commenced on 26 February 2001. The championship attracted top-ranked players like Martina Hingis, Pat Rafter and Marat Safin to the magnificent Dubai Tennis Stadium. Juan Carlos Ferrero won the Men’s Open beating Marat Safin who retired in the final round. BOWLING The UAE Bowling Federation controls competitive bowling in the UAE. A considerable investment in bigger and better bowling alleys has taken place since UAE national, Mohammed Al Qubeisi, won the world championships in Mexico in 1998. The front-ranking Khalifa International Bowling Centre in Abu Dhabi successfully hosted the 1999 Bowling World Cup Championship in November 1999. There are also popular bowling alleys at Abu Dhabi Tourist Club in Abu Dhabi, Al Nasr Leisureland and Thunder Bowl in Dubai. SHOOTING In May 2001 Sheikh Ahmed Mohammed Hasher Al Maktoum used his hunting skills to great effect to win the bronze medal in the double trap-shooting event of the ISSF World Cup in Seoul. In September, Sheikh Ahmed defied heavy odds and a fierce challenge from an elite field to win a silver medal at the

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hotly contested ISSF World Cup at Americana in Brazil. On the strength of these achievements on the international circuit, the ace marksman qualified for the World Cup Finals in Qatar, due to take place in early 2002. O LY M P I C S At the end of December 2000, Sheikh Ahmed Saeed Al Maktoum was elected Chairman of the National Olympic Committee. The committee and the Public Authority of Youth and Sports are working together to identify and train UAE nationals to represent their country in the 2004 and 2008 Olympic Games. Cyclists and marksmen have already been singled out as promising prospects, and the UAE also hopes to participate in the sailing and rowing disciplines. CRICKET Cricket has a growing following in the UAE. Top world teams compete in the Cricketers’ Benefit Fund Series at a purpose-built cricket stadium in Sharjah while the Abu Dhabi Cricket Council is constructing a new stadium next to Abu Dhabi Golf Club. The state-of-the-art floodlit cricket stadium is expected to be completed in April 2002 and to be ready to host international matches from September 2002. The Council organises a range of matches and tournaments throughout the year, including the Abu Dhabi Duty Free Tournament. It is expected that the new stadium will become a popular international venue. Al Ain Cricket Association organises regular matches at its grounds whilst the Darjeeling Cricket Club in Dubai runs matches every Friday, a six-a-side Gulf tournament in March, and regular matches against visiting sides. A UAE national team participated in the International Cricket Council Trophy Super League in Toronto in July 2001. CHESS The UAE has a very enthusiastic Chess Federation that organises domestic tournaments as well as the successful participation of the UAE team in international championships. The Chairman of the UAE Chess Federation, Ibrahim Al Banai, is also Arab Chess Federation President and International Chess Federation (FIDE) Executive Bureau member. The UAE is to host one of the rounds of the International Grand Prix Chess series in 2002, with a US$6 million prize money to be presented by the FIDE to the winners.

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This will be the biggest chess event held in the UAE since the 1986 Dubai Chess Olympiad. The world’s top 32 chess players will take part. The current World champion Vishwanathan Anand will be at the top of the list, with Gary Kasparov, Vladimir Kramnik, Alexi Shirov and a host of other stars. I C E H O C K E Y / I C E S K AT I N G Most surprisingly for a desert state, ice hockey and figure skating are popular sports. Both Abu Dhabi and Dubai have two ice skating rings each with another rink located in Al Ain. With the personal participation and support of Sheikh Falah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Honorary Chairman of the UAE Ice Hockey Association, the UAE national team recently won the 2001 Asian Championship after achieving remarkable results in other championships. The UAE international team, comprising expatriates and five UAE national players, won the premier Senior Division Championship which immediately followed the Asian Championship. The UAE team won both of the Most Valuable Player (MVP) awards, Juma Al Dhahri for the Asian Division and Rus for the Senior Division. UAEIHC was the first Arab ice hockey body to become a provisional member of the International Ice Hockey Federation in May 2001. SKIING Considering the success of ice skating and ice hockey in this hot climate, perhaps it is not so surprising to learn that Dubai is to have an indoor ski resort. The Dh120 million project will have a ski slope, real snow, spa, motel and instructors. Snow World will be built in three phases, the first of which is scheduled to start in January 2002. A 600-metre long and 50-metre wide ski slope will be built in the initial phase and is expected to be operational by February 2003. A four-star motel for ski enthusiasts will also be built at this stage, all inside a massive structure in the shape of a mountain. As at other ski resorts there will be restaurants, cable cars and toboggans for children. Internationally qualified ski instructors will offer formal training. RUGBY Rugby is another sport that has a large following among the expatriate population. Abu Dhabi Rugby Football Club participates in both local and regional tournaments. Games are generally played on a grass pitch provided by the Mina Zayed Port Authority.

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The Six Nations Rugby Tournament is usually held at the Irish Village, Dubai in April. World-class rugby sevens teams compete in the Dubai Rugby Sevens in November or December each year for the prestigious Emirates International Trophy. In 2000 the Dubai Rugby Sevens saw players from the Arabian Gulf compete with the best rugby talent from six continents at the World Sevens Series in Dubai. This was a major boost to rugby in the region, which is working hard to secure a foothold on the global scene. The Dubai Rugby Sevens were held from 7 to 9 November in 2001. Rugby is also played in Al Ain at Ambiers Rugby Club and at Al Ain Oasis Barbarians Rugby Club. OTHER SPORTS The GCC volleyball organising committee (GCCVOC) will stage the fifth GCC Beach Volleyball Championship in the UAE in 2002. Six countries are taking part in the tournament. The UAE Volleyball Association is also organising five tournaments, in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and Ajman. Other sports such as basketball, netball, power lifting, wrestling, handball and softball also have enthusiastic supporters in the UAE.