UAE hope to build on Sheikh Ahmed's golden legacy

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  • Learning from the best: Khaled Al Kaabi.

    Since making its Summer Games debut in Los Angeles 1984, the UAE has been taking small steps forward every four years in its quest to build an Olympic legacy.

    Eight track and field athletes represented the country in LA 32 years ago, and while participation numbers oscillated from one Olympics to another, Emiratis have been taking part in a wider range of sports with each appearance.

    On Friday, 13 competitors from six different sporting disciplines will be marching around the Maracana stadium, flying the flag for the UAE, including shooters, runners, swimmers, judokas, a weightlifter and a cyclist.

    Shooting continues to be one of the most popular and successful Olympic sports which is steeped in the UAE’s tradition.

    The nation’s sole Olympic medal came from shooter Sheikh Ahmed bin Hasher Al Maktoum, who took double trap gold in Athens 2004.

    In London 2012, Sheikh Ahmed coached Great Britain’s Peter Wilson to Olympic gold.  In his quest to help create yet another champion, Sheikh Ahmed is working with UAE’s Khaled Al Kaabi, who is one of three shooters in action in Rio this month, alongside Sheikh Saeed Al Maktoum and Saif bin Futtais.

    The 31-year-old Al Kaabi teamed up with Sheikh Ahmed less than three years ago and is already bearing the fruits of their partnership.

    He initially was targeting the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo to make his Games debut, but an impressive gold medal showing at the Asia Olympic Qualifying Competition in January in New Delhi saw Al Kaabi seal one of just two remaining qualifying spots for Rio and suddenly found himself ahead of schedule.

    Leaving a lasting legacy: Sheikh Ahmed.

    Leaving a lasting legacy: Sheikh Ahmed.

    “I feel proud that I have reached this level within three years of shooting with the UAE team, and of course I feel I am so close to achieving my dream,” Al Kaabi told Sport360°. “I think the qualification process was harder for me than the Olympics itself because when I won the gold medal in New Delhi, it was the last two quota places for Rio, so the pressure was high because if I hadn’t won, I would have had to wait for another four years.

    “I was not so confident that I would qualify because all the best shooters were competing with me.”

    A fan of hunting and shooting since he was a kid, Al Kaabi started training in the sport when a new shooting club popped up in Al Ain. He says he considers Sheikh Ahmed as his greatest inspiration and while he’s hoping to bring out his best in Rio, Al Kaabi feels a podium will be more attainable in Tokyo 2020.

    In skeet shooting, Sheikh Saeed will be making his fifth consecutive appearance at the Olympics while Bin Futtais is making his debut.

    On the track, Ethiopian-born runners Alia Saeed and Betlhem Desalegn Belayneh will be carrying the UAE’s hopes, with the former contesting the 10,000m and the latter competing in the 1,500m.

    Saeed has stepped up in recent years, winning Asian Games and Asian Championships gold in the 10,00m and she has run the 11th-fastest time of the year so far over that distance.

    Belayneh and Saeed are joined by middle distance runner Saud Al Zaabi, who will be representing the UAE in an international meet for the first time in his career.

    Two swimmers, Nada Al Bedwawi and Yaaqoob Al Saadi are competing via wildcard entries while Yousif Mirza will become the first Emirati to take part in a road race at the Olympics.

    Medal hopeful: Sergiu Toma.

    Medal hopeful: Sergiu Toma.

    Three Moldovan-born judokas, Sergiu Toma, Victor Scvortov and Ivan Remarenco, will compete for the UAE in Rio. Toma is perhaps the nation’s biggest chance of a medal as he heads to Brazil as a top-10 judoka in the -81kg class.

    “Since 2013, since after the last Olympic Games this has been the strategy of the federation,” said general secretary of the UAE Wrestling, Judo and Kickboxing Federation, Naser Al Tamimi, of naturalising Eastern European judokas.

    “More than 60 judokas have changed nationality after London 2012. Europeans and Asians, United States. The rules of the International Judo Federation and the IOC have allowed for this as long as the two federations agree. It is becoming one of the biggest sports in the world and a lot of countries have too many judokas. There is often only one athlete who gets the chance to go to the Olympics.

    “Many countries have more than one judoka in a category, so there is only a chance for them to win if they go to other countries. This is what is happening. It’s a good chance for the athletes and it’s a good idea from the IOC.”

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