New 'sports facility underused'

When it was unveiled well in time for last December's 10th Fina World Swimming Championships (25m), the stunning Hamdan Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Sports Complex was tipped to be a turning point in the quest to raise the standard of UAE swimming. However, Obaid Al Jasmi, the country's top swimmer, who was returning after a hectic spell of competing in the recent World Swimming Championships in Shanghai followed by a GCC meet in Kuwait, had a startling tale to tell regarding the difference the Dubai based state-of the art aquatics centre had made to the national team's training regime since its opening. "To be honest, I have swum there on just three occasions," he told XPRESS. Those three occasions, the 30 year old said, came at a test event held shortly after the official launch of the estimated Dh1.1 billion facility, the Fina short-course event which took place mid-December and, lastly, at a competition held this April. Asked why the national team hadn't been making greater use of the Dubai Municipality owned centre all this time, the two-time Olympian was clueless. "I'm not sure what is the reason. All the national team swimmers are disappointed, because if we have such a facility, why aren't we getting the benefit from it? Then why was it built?" he asked rhetorically. "I don't think it's anything to do with the UAE Swimming Federation. If it was in their hands, I'm sure we would have been using it, but it seems like it's in the hands of the Dubai Sports Council." Hectic schedule Al Jasmi competed in the 50-metre fly and 200-metre freestyle events in Shanghai with Mubarak Mohammad Salem the only other Emirati joining him at the 14th World Championships. Prior to a four-week training camp in Italy, followed by nine days in Germany leading up to the events in China and Kuwait, Al Jasmi said he had been training at a 25-metre swimming pool belonging to a local school in Abu Dhabi. "It's very crowded because there are kids there. And I can only train there for four days a week," he said. "How am I supposed to get good results training only four days a week? My club Al Wahda doesn't have a pool and just sometimes I train at Al Jazira Club." However, Ayman Sa'ad, Executive Director of the UAE Swimming Federation rejected Al Jasmi's claims and also assured that the national squad would soon be using the Hamdan Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Sports Complex on a full-time basis. "What Obaid is saying is not correct, because the national team trains at Al Nasr Club and at Al Jazira Club," Sa'ad told XPRESS. "The complex had a strategy to rent out use of its facilities because they had to recover maintenance costs as well as other costs. So the problem was not that we could not use the facility but they were asking us to pay. But the Dubai Sports Council have now secured a contract covering the maintenance costs and by this week everything should be resolved. "Each day of this week there is a meeting planned with them regarding the matter and it will all be OK," he added. In a week when Dubai confirmed its intention to bid for the 2024 Olympic Games, Al Jasmi stressed on the need for proper planning if the UAE is to have world class swimmers by then. "Nothing is impossible," he said. "In 13 years, we can create a champion, but we need to start now. It needs to be planned. I'm not sure if such a plan exists." Realistic approach Sa'ad took a realistic approach. "Talking to a newspaper, I can tell you ‘Yes, we will have champion swimmers by 2024 and blah, blah, blah'. But the reality is, to have world champions, we should firstly have at least 2,000 competitive swimmers from our local swimming clubs. At the moment we have just 500," he said. "We are working hard to make it a bigger number and to some extent we have managed to increase the number. "Then, the culture of the sport among Arab countries is not good enough to produce world champions. Swimmers need to spend five to six hours in the water every day. We don't have this mentality. Those from the GCC who manage to win medals are the ones who are living outside the Gulf." He added: "We need to improve the mentality which is why we are looking to bring world championship events to the UAE. Like that, our swimmers will be able to understand the mentality of champion swimmers." Sa'ad revealed that the Federation was also looking to bring in top quality coaches to the complex to conduct programmes for young swimmers. "We hope to make it happen this year. It will not be for swimmers just from Dubai or Abu Dhabi but from all over the Middle East," he said. Features of the new complex     The centre is a two-tier golden teardrop-shaped facility with an Olympic standard 50-metre pool along with another 50-metre pool with a moveable floor.     Seating capacity of 15,000     Changing rooms for 400 athletes, rooms for umpires and automatic control     A stadium that can accommodate 3,000 spectators, main reception area, VIP waiting area, other waiting areas, multi-purpose halls, health club, gymnasium, training pools and all other service facilities.