Reda Saleem (Dubai)
The UAE mission ended its participation in the Islamic Solidarity Games hosted by Konya, Turkey, with the participation of 6,000 athletes from 56 countries. The UAE participated in it with 53 athletes competing in 9 different individual sports. The team’s harvest represented 10 medals, 3 gold, 2 silver and 5 bronze, Through 3 games “Bicycles, Judo and Bow Arrow for People of Determination”, the podiums were absent from 6 games “Shooting, Karate, Taekwondo, fencing, weightlifting, and swimming.”
The UAE ranked “14th” in the medals table, as Turkey came with 341 medals, including 145 gold, 107 silver and 89 bronze, Uzbekistan in summer (158 medals), and Iran third (133 medals).
Although the UAE’s participation is the best in its history in the Islamic Solidarity Games, the absence of 6 games from the podiums represents a big question mark, which was repeated in the fourth session, in the Azerbaijani capital, Baku in 2017, where the UAE finished its participation in the tournament in 29th place. Only 3 out of 8 games succeeded in raising the state flag on the podiums, collecting 4 medals, silver and 3 bronze, through shooting, judo and athletics.
In the third session hosted by the Indonesian Palembang in 2013, the UAE achieved 4 medals, with silver and 3 bronze in 19th place, and the medals came through karate and athletics, following Suleiman Al Mulla, who won the bronze in Karate, in the individual kumite category, weighing over 84 kg, And Ilham Beti, who won second place in the 5 thousand meters race, and third place in the 1500 meters race, and Alia Muhammad Saeed, who succeeded in winning the bronze in 10 thousand meters, and the delegation included 28 male and female athletes in 4 games “Athletics, Karate, Taekwondo and Weightlifting”.
In the first edition in Saudi Arabia in 2005, our athletes achieved 5 medals, 2 silver and 3 bronze, in 23rd place. All of them came through the equestrian team, which won 2 silvers and 3 bronzes. The second edition was canceled in 2009.
Our delegation fell to the sixth place in the Arab world, led by Morocco (62 medals), including 15 gold, 13 bronze and 34 bronze, Bahrain (23 medals), including 9 gold, 7 silver and 7 bronze, and Algeria (42 medals), distributed between 7 gold, 12 silver 23 bronze, Kuwait 16 medals, 5 gold, 9 silver and 2 bronze, Qatar 12 medals, including 4 gold, 3 bronze and 5 silver, and Saudi Arabia 24 medals, divided between 2 gold, 12 silver and 10 bronze, compared to Jordan’s 12 medals. 4 medals for Oman and Libya, 3 medals for Sudan, 7 medals for Tunisia, 4 medals for Lebanon, two medals for Djibouti and Palestine, while Yemen won bronze.
Al-Tamimi: “The coronation” is the goal of judo in all tournaments
Nasser Al-Tamimi, Secretary-General of the Federation of Wrestling and Judo, stressed that all the tournaments in which the team participates always have one goal, which is to achieve medals in the name of the Emirates, and it is a strategy within the Federation since its inception, and we have continued on the same approach, and our team includes from 5 to 6 players, and our goal was In the Solidarity Tournament, he won one or more medals, and we succeeded in achieving 3 medals, gold, silver and bronze. In the Baku Games, we also won a medal.
He added: Our goal in the last session was 4 medals, including two gold, and dealing with it as a preparation station for the upcoming benefits, especially the upcoming World Championships in October. In preparation for the World Championships, there will be a preparation camp until the competitions.
He pointed out that the federation sets its program for a year, with flexibility to modify it, according to the circumstances of the tournament, which is what happened this year, following the Asian Games were postponed, and the Asian Championship was held before the Solidarity Games, and we participated in them, because it is held under the supervision of the International Federation, although it did not It was not on the agenda, but the Asian Confederation had to set it up, following the China Games were postponed, and from there we headed to Turkey.
Al-Doukhi: Italy Camp “The Password”
Yasser Al-Doukhi, Secretary-General of the Cycling Federation for Rational Leadership, congratulated all the fans of the game, the players, the technical and administrative staff, and all those who contributed to collecting medals and raising the state flag.
He said: What was achieved was not for nothing. Rather, there are plans and programs developed by the National Teams Committee, headed by Mansour Bouasaiba, President of the Federation, and before heading to Turkey, we set up a preparation camp in Italy, and our goal was to achieve a new number of medals, and indeed we won 5 medals, including two gold, which is Better than the Baku Games.
He added: The achievement is an extension of the team’s career, following we won first place in the Salalah Tour, and 44 medals in the Arab Championship, including track and mountain road, and we participated in the Asian Track Championship in India, and won the gold medal through Yousef Misra, and participation in the Gulf Games in Kuwait, We collected 11 medals.
He pointed out that the goal is to maintain the achievements, continue the path towards the podiums, the next participation of the team in the Asian Track Championship in Thailand, qualifying for the World Championship in Australia, participating in the Arab Track Championship in Egypt, and hosting the Arab Championship for Road and Mountain Road and People of Determination in the UAE.
Al-Doukhi thanked the General Sports Authority, the Olympic Committee and the sports councils that encourage the holding of cycling events and everyone who contributed to these achievements.
Al Balushi: Swords are not valid
Omran Al-Balushi, administrator of the fencing mission, revealed that the team faced a number of challenges in the course, foremost of which was that the swords were not valid, and we needed a technician to repair and modify them before the competitions. In order to buy new swords and tools.
He added: The player is not responsible for repairing his sword, and it is not his fault that he gets a warning from the referee, because the sword is not valid. Another competitor prepared in external camps for long periods, and we faced a great challenge in setting up an internal camp, had it not been for individual efforts, we would not have trained before the competition, in addition to the absence of external camps.”
He pointed out that what happened is not a justification for leaving the tournament “with no hands”, but this is a reality we live in. It was possible to be more creative than if the conditions were better prepared. We participated with three players, an administrator and a coach, and two players qualified for the round of 16, where he came out. Abdullah Hassan Al Hammadi in front of his Uzbek opponent 13-15 and also exited from the same round, Khalifa Al Zarouni, losing to the first seed 11-15, while Muhammad Al Mazmi came out in the group stage, and he is a young player that we pushed, in order to gain experience in the big tournaments, and the tournament is It serves as a preparation for the players for the upcoming tournaments.
Al Balushi explained that he will present a report on what happened to the Federation and the Olympic Committee in order to remedy the matter in the upcoming participation, especially since the player does not represent a club, but rather represents the UAE in a major forum.
