Dubai: The secretary-general of the Dubai Sports Council (DSC) has called for the implementation of gymnastics at the national level if the country is to taste success in sports at the international level.
"We have a belief that gymnastics is the basic ingredient of any sport, be it individual or team. And this is the only reason why we should have gymnastics as part of the national sports psyche in the UAE," Dr Ahmad Sa'ad Al Sharif, Secretary-General of the DSC told Gulf News.
Al Sharif was one of the early believers in the fact that sportsmen from the UAE need to concentrate on individual sports rather than team sports. His scathing report as a top official with the General Authority of Youth and Sports Welfare (GAYSW), after the Busan 2002 Asian Games made heads turn.
One of the suggestions he had made then was that UAE athletes should start off with gymnastics as part of their curriculum.
"The belief is simple: gymnastics will give any person the right sort of flexibility and agility to follow any sport," Al Sharif said. "But we have had our difficulties since then. We even managed to have the sanction to establish a gymnastics association, but nothing of this sort has happened," he rued.
Initiative
The official further lamented that a top government body such as the GAYSW needs to take up this initiative of making gymnastics compulsory.
"We are the only country that wants to achieve in sports without the use of gymnastics," Al Sharif pointed out.
"The whole thing needs to evolve from the top. Let's say, it has to start from the GAYSW. We have a belief in gymnastics and what it can do to further sportspersons. Gymnastics is the foundation for any sport, be it individual or team sports. But the authorities at the top need to believe in what we have been trying to convey to them," he stressed.
