Dubai : Betty Desalegn Belayneh, who won the five kilometre women's run, and runner-up Alia Saeed Mohammad, from Ethiopia, will don UAE colours in the upcoming Asian Games to be held in Guangzhou City, China, next month.
Belayneh raced to victory in just 16 minutes 46 seconds, closely followed by Alia Saeed in 16 minutes 55 seconds.
"These two promising athletes are being trained by the UAE Athletics Federation and they are now UAE passport holders and hence will participate in international meets for our country," said Ahmad Al Kamali, the president of the UAE Athletic Federation, to Gulf News.
"We have been conducting camps in Ethiopia and we have spotted them. They haven't run in too many races, but are very promising and will represent the UAE," said Larry Barthlow, the technical advisor to the UAE Athletics Federation.
Delight
"They are very good and we wish to see them do well for the UAE," said Naseer Ghrib, Technical Manager of the National Olympic Committee, after giving away the prizes.
Kamali also expressed his delight over the response for the first five kilometre women's race. "This is a great beginning for women in UAE. We wish to stage it bigger and better next time and considering the heat the next year's run will be in November. We will also start the run at 7am instead of 8am.
"Next year's run will have the start and finish at the same point, unlike this year which was from one point to another."
