UAE Beach Soccer national team has begun preparations to participate in the inaugural Beach Games for GCC countries to be held in Bahrain from October 10 to 17.
The national players have assembled in a training camp and set to play three friendly matches against their counterparts from Kuwaiti before departing to Bahrain.
The UAE team will aim to assert their supremacy in the Gulf, since both the UAE Olympic team and UAE Junior team clinched two Gulf titles recently.
The Emirati players are hot favourites to win the GCC title, going by their achievements at Asian level.
They came first in the Asian qualifiers and got second place in the last two editions of the Arab Championship.
They have also experience of having participated in the finals of the World Cup several times, the last of which was the Championship hosted by Dubai last year.
“We will participate in this Championship to win the title and to present a splendid performance reflecting the UAE’s distinctive reputation in this particular game,” said team manager Khalil Ahli.
The Dubai Sports Council has set an intensive preparatory plan for the team starting with their participation in the Arab Championship to be held in Saudi Arabia and a tournament in Morocco in July during which they played against strong national teams such as Switzerland.
The UAE players have been training daily in August to maintain their fitness level and gear them up for the upcoming competitions.
The Gulf Beach Games will attract 300 athletes in six disciplines such as football, handball, volleyball, swimming, athletics and sailing.
Following is the schedule of the UAE beach soccer team’s matches:
October 12: 11.00 am vs Qatar
October 13: 9:00 am vs Kuwait
October 15: 9:00 am vs Bahrain
October 16: 9:00 am vs Saudi Arabia
October 17: 9:00 am vs Oman
Follow Emirates 24|7 on Google News.
