General Authority of Sports and UAE Fencing Federation set future strategies for priority sports

H.E. Sheikh Suhail bin Butti Al Maktoum, Executive Director of the Sports Development Sector at the General Authority of Sports, met with H.E. Engineer Sheikh Salem bin Sultan Al Qasimi, President of the Asian Fencing Federation and President of the UAE and Arab Fencing Federations to discuss future strategies to strengthen governance within the federation and develop better mechanism to discover and train talents. The meeting was held in the presence of Abdulaziz Al-Hussan Al Shamsi, Director of the Competitive Sports Department in the Authority, and Omar Khalaf, Director of the Sports Governance Department.

This meeting follows the selection of Fencing as one of the priority sports by the Coordinating Council last June. Other sports under the priority banner are Athletics, Archery, Shooting and Judo. The General Authority of Sports has been holding meetings with priority sports federations to devise strategies that can help develop the skill of new sports champions, in accordance with the UAE Sports Sector Strategy 2032, which aims to expand participation in the Olympics.

Al Maktoum said: “The General Authority of Sports, along with other sports federations, are devising better ways to discover and develop talents to prepare a future generation that is capable of achieving sport milestones in various continental and international championships. By working with the UAE Fencing Federation, we are aiming to enhance competitiveness in sports by studying current strengths and opportunities. Additionally, we are planning different techniques to identify ways to develop the presence of Fencing in the community, to further attract more talents.”

"We laud the Federation’s effort to expand and develop the system of attracting talents in cooperation with clubs and other stakeholders. The Emirate Sports Federation for School and University Education Institution has supported these efforts by including priority sports in school games project. We expect these strategies to enhance partnerships between federations, improving governance that will lead to better and efficient ways to create local championships and enhance the winning chances of national teams and also maintain the sustainability of the federation’s administrative system.”

Al Qasimi said: "We value and laud the efforts of the General Authority of Sports to support the federations. We are working to reap the benefits of the technical and digital developments that have been made through the UAE Digital Government’s strategies, which commits to develop working mechanisms of federations using modern and innovative methods, such as recording accurate data on players and tournaments. This helps improve the selection and development of talents and also provide them with advanced training, which will further motivate young talents. These training methods encourage talents during exercises through useful and pleasing challenges, contributing to increased creativity and development process.”

During the meeting, the forms submitted to the priority sports federations were reviewed. These forms highlighted the work mechanisms within the federation which serves as a pillar on which the new strategy will be devised. Additionally, this will also help in identifying excellent talents of different age groups and prepare them physically and mentally to increase winning chances in local, as well as international championships. The complete strategy will be set through various workshops, bringing together the Authority and the Federation.

Current plans of the federation were also presented during the meeting, which focuses on talents from young age groups and providing them with optimal preparation for developing their skills. The results of these plans and the performance indicators will play a key role in defining the features of the future strategy.

Recently, 12 male and female players of the national fencing team participated in the World Fencing championship held in Egypt. Famous players from around the world participated in the championship, with the number of participants exceeding 1000 male and female athletes from 105 countries.