Over 1,000 swimmers will take to the pool at the Hamdan Sports Complex and the waters off Kite Beach when the inaugural Dubai International Aquatic Championships begin today.
Apart from four days of water polo action which get under way today, the championships also includes an open water competition from April 18-19 and a pool swimming event (April 23-26).
The swim meet will act as a qualifying event for this summer’s Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing for junior swimmers, and for next year’s World Aquatic Championships in Kazan for the seniors.
The championships, supported by the Dubai Sports Council, aim to boost the profile of swimming in the UAE and provide, organisers believe, an important stepping stone to hosting a world championship.
Dubai was set to host last year’s worlds but opted out of the process in 2010, deciding to concentrate on growing the sport among its residents.
While FINA has already awarded all the world championships up to 2021, officials at the UAE Swimming Federation are hoping they get a chance to host a major event before then, should one of the host nations opt out.
“The World Aquatic Championships is an event that has the second most number of athletes competing, after the Olympics. And Dubai really deserves to host something like this,” said Ayman Saad, executive director of the UAE Swimming Federation.
“This is the first time we’re organising an international open water event, and we’ve also included water polo.
“By next year, we’ll add a fourth discipline in the form of diving.
“The idea is to have five different disciplines in one championship within the next four years. Hosting worlds is a big undertaking and this is a step towards that.”
The water polo competition features clubs from UAE, Egypt, Croatia, Qatar and Hungary for age groups 10 to 13, while open water will see swimmers from 14 clubs competing in the 500m, 1km, 3km, 5km and 3x1km races. UAE, Kazakhstan, Iran, Croatia, Palestine, Slovenia, Syria and Switzerland clubs will all be competing in the swimming events.
“We’re planning on organising a big international open water cham-pionship next year, so this is like our trial run,” added Saad.
In the pool, over 600 swimmers from 25 countries will take part, including Hungarian siblings Evelyn and David Verraszto.
Evelyn is a former European champion while David is a two-time European Long Course Championships silver medallist in the 400m medley.
The UAE national junior and senior teams arrived yesterday from their high-altitude training camp in Sierra Nevada, Spain, and young swimmers like Yaaqoub Al Saadi and Ali Al Kaabi are hoping to book qualifying spots for Nanjing in the Hamdan pool next week.
First team swimmers Mubarak Salem Al Besher and Mohamed Al Ghaferi also have a strong chance to close on qualifying times that would book their spots in next year’s worlds.
