Sports Coordination Council introduces sports of priority to improve Olympic achievements

The Sports Coordination Council led by H.E Dr. Ahmad Belhoul Al Falasi, Minister of Education, Chairman of the General Authority of Sports, and Chairman of the Board of Directors, introduced a priority list of five different sports, during its third meeting. This step is aimed at strengthening UAE's sports competitiveness and international presence, besides improve achievements in Olympic sports in regional and international forums.

The Council elaborated that the sports were chosen based on a detailed study undertaken by the General Authority of Sports in collaboration with its partners in the country, as well as the best experiences and practices from other nations. This is in line with the ‘Principles of the 50’ and the Sports Sector Strategy 2032 that seeks to boost the UAE’s engagement in international forums and its prospects of achieving more Olympic success. The sports of priority comprises five sports, including bow and arrow, athletics, fencing, archery, and judo.

Al Falasi said: “The UAE adopts an ambitious vision for the future of national sport, as per the directives of our wise leadership and the UAE Centennial 2071, which aims to promote the international reputation of the country in various forums. The vision further intends to promote the youth, encouraging them to accomplish many greater international achievements. Therefore, we embrace the concept of sports of priority which was developed under comprehensive studies based on specific mechanisms. Such mechanisms aim to promote the reach of UAE athletes to rally podiums and achieve a fundamental change in the international presence of the country’s sports in the years ahead.”

His Excellency added: “During the next phase, the Authority will collaborate with its strategic partners from government entities and sports sector institutions to focus on priority sports that possess the potential and standards to reach outstanding sports levels and achievements, as well as high-level athletes in various sports. We have devised specific strategies to bring out the distinctive abilities and great potentials of athletes in any sport, to offer them with all the assistance they need to improve their own as well as the UAE's global achievements. The main objective is to create a sophisticated identity for UAE sport’s sector globally, which will be reflected in the sustainable growth and prosperity of the sector in the country.”

Priority sports were identified based on a classification of all sports, and a planned set of criteria. It included Olympic potential in every sport, the possibility of Olympic success, opportunities to win Olympic medals, international tournaments and achievements, and the global competition. In addition to the UAE’s current talents, facts and statistics of each sport such as the number of practitioners, the number of clubs, the state of training centers, infrastructure, tools, and equipment available, as well as other standards on ease of implementation, cost, readiness of federations, funding plans, and others, were also taken into account.

The classification showed high chances of success in many individual sports, owing to the breadth of the competition circle, the distribution of Olympic medals to many countries, and the lack of States in control of the top places. Ratings and ranking of sports were determined by the factors studied, with priority sports receiving the highest scores.

Figures show that there are approximately 2,300 registered athletes in the priority sports federations in the UAE, and more than 12 per cent of them have the potential to reach the high-level category, which enhances opportunities for Olympic presence in these sports.

The Tokyo 2020 Olympics also saw a wide variety of medal distribution in these sports with sports persons from nine countries securing 15 medals in archery, 144 athletics medals going to athletes from 43 countries, 36 medals in fencing bagged by athletes from 13 countries, 45 shooting medals secured by 19 different countries and 60 Judo medals given to martial artists across 26 countries. This shows the fact that there are no countries that have a monopoly on competition in these sports and allows new countries to enter the competitive market.

On a related note, the Coordination Council meeting addressed ways to develop the role of the UAE Sports Federation of School and University Educational Institutions, by supporting priority sports and introducing them to students and encouraging the youth to compete in them, providing the sports sector with outstanding talents. The significance of the Federation's outputs, as well as its attempts to develop high-level heroes, were also discussed.

The General Authority of Sports will hold a series of meetings with priority sports federations, in which future action plans will be discussed with a view to enhancing partnership and cooperation among all parties, thereby contributing to raising the UAE flag in international sports forums.