UAE hopes for runner Aliya and a medal in Ashgabat
The president of the Athletics Federation of the United Arab Emirates expects that his team of three sportsmen will return with at least one medal of the 5th Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games in Ashgabat.
The National Olympic Committee of the United Arab Emirates last week gave the names of 55 athletes in seven sports disciplines that will represent the country at the Games in the Turkmen capital: track and field athletics, billiards, bowling, cycle racing, chess, jujitsu and futsal. This is reported by the Middle East site GulfNews.com.
The leading hope of the UAE in track and field athletics is the Asian champion Aliya Saeed Mohammad. This year Aliya already have won a silver medal in the 5000m race at the Asian Games in Bhubaneswar (India) in July, and then two gold medals of 5000m and 10,000m at the Arab Athletics Championships in Tunisia.
Although, an ankle injury forced her to miss the World Cup in London earlier this month. She is now continuing her training in Addis Ababa. However, in Ashgabat she will run 3,000 meters, while her other two fellow countrymen will run 800 meters.
The UAE also counts on medals in jujitsu, especially after the national team returned with 21 medals, including 10 gold awards from the 2nd Asian Championship in Hanoi (Vietnam) earlier this month.
Certain hopes for silver medal are associated with the rider Yusuf Mirza.
