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Sports
and Leisure Less than three decades ago
golfers were restricted to playing on oiled sand, putting on
‘browns’ rather than greens. Today proponents of the
fastest growing sport in the UAE can take their pick of a
number of world-class golf courses throughout the country,
complete with distinctive clubhouses, immaculate greens and
lush fairways. Some of the courses are of such a high
standard that they have been selected to host major
international golfing tournaments. The Emirates Golf Club
hosted the annual Dubai Desert Classic tournament each year
until 1999, when the tournament was held at the Dubai Creek
Golf and Yacht Club. The Desert Classic, which attracts all
the top international players, is part of the ATP European
Tour.
The resounding success of the
Toyota Golf Pro-Am since its inception in 1994 is another
indication of the UAE’s capacity to host an array of
events of international Golf in the UAE is organized and promoted through the UAE Golf Association (UGA) which particularly proud of its junior development programme to encourage young nationals to excel in the sport. A junior national team participated in prestigious tournaments in Malaysia and Lebanon in 1999. The tournament in Beirut tied in with the launch of the 1999-2000 Junior Development Programme in September.
Assisted by the splendid facilities on offer throughout the country and heavily-promoted by the UAE Tennis Association, tennis is a much favored sport in the UAE, both at amateur and professional levels. Nine of the world's top 14 players competed in the 1999 Dubai Tennis Open (February 8–14), a US $1 million ATP Tour World Series event organized by Dubai Duty Free Aviation Club Tennis Center. In 1998 the Dubai Tennis Open was presented with the ‘Tournament of the Year’ award in the 54-event 1998 ATP Tour World Series. The Dubai Tennis Open is a week of serious competition for the world's top stars as well as a time of entertainment for families in the UAE. Surrounding events help to promote tennis and to show through fun games and competitions how easy and accessible the game can be for all ages and levels of competence. The Dubai Classic is a major date in the snooker event calendar with international stars competing for big prizes. The sport has much local support and the UAE snooker team underlined its regional dominance by capturing the AGCC championship for the eighth successive time in Riyadh. The UAE Billiards and Snooker Association is continuing to foster young talent with a special schools programme. Under this scheme the most talented players are selected for further coaching with the aim of giving the sport and the national team a broader base in the UAE. The Dubai International Rally (1–2 December 1998), comprising the final round of the 1998 FIA Middle East Rally Championship, was won for the tenth time in 14 years by Mohammed bin Sulayem, while fellow UAE driver Sheikh Abdullah Al Qasimi clinched his first Middle East success – the Middle East Group N title for production cars. Mohammed bin Sulayem had an amazing six wins in six rallies in 1998. Bin Sulayem also had a momentous start to the 1999 season when he won the UAE Automobile and Touring Club ADNOC-FOD UAE International Rally which launches the FIA Middle East Championship each year. Mohammed went on to repeat this fine performance at events in Jordan, Cyprus, Lebanon and Qatar. Another UAE driver Khalifa Al Mutaywi, won the Drakkar Noir 1,000 Dunes Rally series for the third time in 1999, successfully defending his title and winning the Golden Sword perpetual trophy outright. The 700-kilometre rally, the third in the series, was part of the motoring activities of the 1999 Dubai Shopping Festival and was organized by Emirates Motor Sports Federation (EMSF). The rally also constituted Round Three of the UAE National Rally Championship. The UAE Bowling Federation organizes competitive bowling in the UAE, a sport that has become even more popular in recent years as bigger and better bowling alleys are opened across the country. This year the Khalifa International Bowling Center at Zayed Sports City, which has 40 lanes, hosted the UAE International Annual Bowling Championship from 1–16 April 1999 and the FIQ World Bowling Championships in November 1999. The latter event featured participants from over 80 countries each fielding two teams. The UAE has a very active Chess Federation that organizes domestic tournaments, as well as the successful participation of the UAE team in international championships. August 1999 was a hectic month for the Abu Dhabi Chess and Culture Club with an international tournament played against Azerbaijan and the holding of the Ninth Abu Dhabi Chess Festival at the Abu Dhabi Cultural Foundation from August 21 to 31 with nearly 300 participants from various countries competing. The International Law En forcement Games track and field events we re held at the Dubai Police stadium in November 1998. UAE-Dubai Police emerged champions on the final day after topping the medal table with 261 medals: 102 gold, 104 silver and 55 bronze. The USA were in second place with a total of 90 medals. Australia were third with 25 gold, 11 silver and seven bronze and UAE-Military Police were fourth with 22 gold, 13 silver and six bronze. The UAE were highly-successful participants in the pan-Arab Games held in Jordan in August 1999. UAE teams participated in nine sports including shooting, football, swimming, cycling, weightlifting and bodybuilding, chess, equestrian, athletics and karate and came away with eight gold, nine silver and 17 bronze medals. The UAE cycling team won the first medal of the games for their country, a silver medal in the 84-kilometre race, while Khuwaiter Saeed won the first ever swimming medal for the UAE in the country's 23-year-old record in the biennial games. Subsequent races saw Ayub Salem winning a gold medal while Khuwaiter took a second medal, this time a bronze. The shooting team also had considerable success bringing home gold, silver and bronze medals at team and individual levels. Immediately prior to the games Sheikh Saeed bin Maktoum Al Maktoum had won fourth place in the World Marksmanship Championship in Finland, confirming the UAE’s prowess in this field. Meanwhile, men and women from the UAE chess teams, produced impeccable performances, adding to the UAE’s impressive collection of gold medals. The UAE will participate in the Thirteenth Asian Games held in Bangkok from 6 to 20 December with the biggest delegation ever sent. The UAE is taking part in nine events: football, handball, basketball, shooting, bowling, cycling, karate, swimming and snooker. The UAE has fielded teams in every Asian Games since the Bangkok Games in 1978. The UA E ’s relatively large expatriate population has meant that cricket has become a firm favorite in the country with well-established cricket grounds in Abu Dhabi and Sharjah. The national team won the plate final of the Youth Asia Cup played in Singapore in July 1999 when they defeated Hong Kong by four wickets at the Singapore Cricket Club ground. The UAE Transitional Committee for Ice Hockey selected the first national team to represent the country in the International Ice Hockey Championship held in Hong Kong in March. The team included 14 players selected from different clubs in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Al Ain. for more information, visit UAE ICE HOCKEY COMMITTEE Some of the world's top wrestling champions competed for honors in a unique championship organized by the Abu Dhabi Combat Club at the end of March 1999. The Second World Submission Wrestling Championship along with the First Arabian Submission Wrestling Championship featured over 100 wrestlers from around the world in the three-day championships. PHYSICALLY CHALLENGED ACHIEVERS As part of the Dubai Summer Surprises festival, the Dubai Department of Economic Development honored the physically challenged on their sporting achievements at a ceremony organized at the Town Center shopping mall in Dubai. One of those honored from the Dubai Handicapped Club was Khamis Masood Mubarak, a gold medallist in the shot-put competition in the World Championship in Birmingham in 1997, who has qualified to compete in the year 2000 Olympics in Sydney. Also honored was Mohammad Humaid Al Muhairi who received a silver medal in the same championship. Ahmed Saif Zaal Al Muhairi from the Trust Club (Nadi Al Theqa) was honored for his success in many international sport competitions. From the Abu Dhabi Medical Center, Salem Hamad Naseeb an artist and painter with a considerable number of successes behind him in many sporting activities, was also honored as was Ahmed Rashid Al Shamsi from the Al Ain Handicapped Club who won gold and silver medals in the International Open Championships in Germany in 1999. |
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