UAE Olympic chief: ‘Willingness to walk the steep slope’ needed for Tokyo success

Maj Gen Ahmed Al Raisi, the chairman of the UAE Olympic Planning Committee, has outlined the Emirates' strategy for success at Tokyo 2020 - and how it begins now.

The UAE delegation at the 2016 Rio Olympics opening ceremonies. Kai Pfaffenbach / Reuters / August 5, 2016

Maj Gen Ahmed Al Raisi, chairman of the Olympic Planning Committee, has said the UAE’s preparations for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and beyond need to start now, with a long-term plan and focus on developing school sports, if the country hopes to improve on their Rio show.

The UAE were represented by a 13-member contingent at the Rio Olympics and the team is returning home with a bronze, won by Moldova-born Sergiu Toma in the men’s -81kg judo. This is only the second Olympic medal for the UAE after the men’s double trap gold won by Sheikh Ahmed bin Hasher 12 years ago at Athens.

In the other events, Khaled Al Kaabi did well in the men’s double trap shooting in difficult, windy conditions, but missed qualifying for the six-man semis by one target and finished seventh overall. Saif bin Futtais, ranked No 1 in Asian skeet shooting, finished 29th in a field of 32 in Rio, while Sheikh Saeed bin Maktoum was 17th in the same event.

Ivan Remarenco lost his opening duel in the men’s -100kg judo, while Victor Scvortov could go no further than the second round in the men’s -73kg judo competition.

In swimming, Nada Al Bedwawi, the country’s flag-bearer at the opening ceremony, was 78th in the women’s 50 metre freestyle, while Yaqoub Al Saadi was ranked 37th out of 39 swimmers in the men’s 100m backstroke.

On the tracks, Alia Saeed, who boasts a personal best of 31:10.25 in the 10,000m, was nowhere close to her best in Rio, finishing 23rd in a field of 35 with a time of 31:56.74, while Betlhem Desalegn had to pull out of 1,500m because of a hamstring injury.

Cyclist Yousif Mirza could not complete the road race because of a crash that blocked his route, while Aisha Al Balooshi finished at the bottom (No 16) in the women’s -58kg weightlifting.

Many of these athletes like Al Bedwawi, Al Balooshi, Al Saadi and Saud Al Zaabi had less than a month to prepare for Rio and Al Raisi reckons that is not the way forward. The UAE, according to him, needs an elite programme like the top Olympic nations.

“The picture has become really clear to us,” Al Raisi told reporters in Rio. “These Olympics, more than ever, have shown us that you cannot achieve the Olympic dream without a junior base, a long-term plan and willingness to walk the steep slope.

“With this in mind, we have developed plans and identified sports we need to focus on. We will focus on individual sports and exclude team sports because our chances in the team events are not so great. So we need to focus on sports like shooting, archery, judo, swimming, athletics and others where we can achieve success.

“We need to start our work for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, and beyond, now without any delay. We need to identify our best prospects, turn them into full-time athletes, and get the best coaches to guide them. We need to make plans for long overseas camps, in countries which best suit our needs.

“We have seen some really talented youngsters coming through the school Olympics programme and we are working on them. The school Olympics are really important because they provide the nucleus of the teams for the future. So we have set goals and work to achieve the results we endeavour.

“The world is moving at a fast pace and we have to walk at the same speed if we hope to keep featuring on the medals table. There is great support from the state for every athlete and we are confident we achieved in judo here, we can achieve in other sports as well.”

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