General Authority of Sports and UAE Archery Federation hold meeting to foster budding athletes

H.E Sheikh Suhail bin Butti Al Maktoum, Executive Director of the Sports Development Sector at General Sports Authority, held a meeting with H.E Dr. Saeed Musabeh Al Kaabi, President of the UAE Archery Federation, to introduce the new strategies for enhancing UAE’s prospects in achieving more continental and international achievements in sports. The meeting was also attended by Humaid Al Musharrekh, Secretary-General of UAE Archery Federation and Rasha Yahya, Development and Follow up Manager of Federation, as well as Abdul Aziz Hosan, Director of the Competitive Sports Department of the General Sports Authority, and Omar Khalaf, Director of the Department of Sports Governance of the Authority.

This meeting comes as part of Authority’s meetings with Priority Sports Federations to determine the necessary actions required to attract and empower more young talents.  

H.E Sheikh Suhail stated that the collaboration with the priority sports federations is crucial for achieving the UAE Sports Sector Strategy 2032, which aims to promote the country’s participation in the Olympics. His Excellency elaborated: “The General Sports Authority strives to increase the UAE's prospects of achieving continental and international victories by developing new strategies for priority sports federations. To best assist national teams and promote talent discovery, these strategies prioritize on the development of work mechanisms and promoting governance within federations.”   

“The Authority further looks forward to witnessing the UAE’s current presence in various international archery championships. Archery is one of the oldest Olympic sports as it was included in the second edition of the Olympics in 1900. The new strategy, which is devised in collaboration with the Federation, will help in promoting this sport among young categories and discover new talent. It also seeks to increase our chances for future successes and establish comprehensive performance-development initiatives for the athletes,” he further added.

Al Kaabi said: “The Federation is committed to promote archery in the region to foster a culture of community sports in line with the government’s efforts and Authority’s objectives. We also intend to discover and foster new talents and expand the sport at administrative and arbitrary levels in order to strengthen UAE's presence in various international forums.”

The meeting further discussed the details on exceptional talents of every age group and their development plans as mentioned in the questionnaires for priority sports federations. It also examined the Federation’s working mechanisms to further enhance administrative work. The conference stated that they would organise workshops where representatives from the Authority and Federation would work together to formulate future strategies.

Moreover, the meeting also highlighted the participation of the UAE archery team in the third round of World Archery Championships 2022 last month. The team is currently preparing for the upcoming Islamic Solidarity Games 2022 in Konya, Turkey, where three men and as many women will compete.

Last month, the Sports Coordination Council announced the priority sports list that included Archery, Bow and Arrow, Shooting, Athletics, Judo, and Fencing, to enhance UAE’s presence in the Olympics.