UAE swimming chief remains confident

The President of the UAE Swimming Association (UAE SA) has assured that diving and swimming will be among the sports with the biggest following in the UAE in the near future. "We have made a late start in our efforts to push swimming or diving through, but be assured that these two sports will have a good following in the next few years," Ahmad Al Falasi told media on the sidelines of the Fina/Midea Diving World Series event at the Hamdan Bin Mohammad Sports Complex over the weekend. "The UAE SA already has a specialised school for diving, where we have young divers training on a regular basis, while the development programme for swimming that got under way a couple of years back is also in full swing. We believe we are headed in the right direction and the results will be known in the next few years." Long before hosting the Fina World Championships (25m) in 2010, the UAE played its role as a major partner of the world governing body by hosting several open water and marathon swimming competitions. Huge boost to sport But, it was the construction of the Dh1.1 billion Hamdan Bin Mohammad Sports Complex off the Dubai-Al Ain Highway that gave the sport a huge boost, with the UAE SA trying to attract at least 10,000 new swimmers into the sport. "This programme for young swimmers continues and we have some good talent coming through. In a year or two, you will see these swimmers participate at the Arab and Asian level and start winning medals too," Al Falasi said. Encouraging athletes He backed the hosting of such world-level events in the country as they further encourage young athletes in the UAE. "We want to show our kids the best in the sport they have chosen. You have the best world champions all competing under one roof and this can be a huge motivation for our athletes," he said. Al Falasi acceded that the sport has had a delayed start in this part of the world, but that will not stop the UAE from aspiring towards lofty goals in the future. "We've had to start from scratch as we don't have history in this sport. But, we have made the start and that is important. It is now time for us to start writing our own history in swimming and diving," he said.