When the United Arab Emirates made it officially known last month that it would not be bidding on the 2021/2023 World Championships, they did leak news of the creation of a FINA-accredited development center in Dubai, geared towards swimmers, coaches and officials from around the world. At the time, Swimming Federation Technical Director, Ayman Saad said that the Hamdan Sports Complex-based center had “already been approved by FINA, but we are preparing the actual plans now to submit it for government approval.”
Now, FINA Executive Director Cornel Marculescu also confirms such plans, stating that the UAE local sports organizations and FINA are trying to finalize everything “as soon as possible.” Marculescu stated while in Dubai for the World Cup last weekend that, “We are trying to build this together with the federation and the Dubai Sports Council. And we have to do it in the Middle East, it’s important, because swimming here is developing so much,”
Expressing his satisfaction that the host of the Dubai World Cup’s facility would indeed suit the needs of the new center, Marculescu continued, “This venue here is fantastic, the facility of this Hamdan Sports Complex is unbelievable. With these three, four swimming pools, it’s a fantastic place to prepare. We would run our development program here, with scholarships to swimmers from the region, providing their expenses for accommodation, for school, for training and food.”
Timeframes are still up in the air at the moment, as Marculescu states, “I cannot tell when exactly (the center will be up and running) but we’re working very hard on this together with the UAE Swimming Federation to get this finalized as soon as possible.”
So I want to know if women swimmers from Middle Eastern (ie Islamic)will be invited to train at the development center. We have black football players in Missouri that caused social change this week and I want to know if FINA is doing the same.
Just wanted to know will you be posting pictures of the swim meet you had on November 7