Six years away from swimming in local and Gulf tournaments after years of achievements for their clubs and the national team, and soon after they were the Gulf champions, namely: Mubarak Al-Bishr, Mohammed Al-Ghafari, Khalid Al-Dabbous, Mohammed Jassim, Yousef Al-Hosani, and Jacob Saadi who was Among the UAE delegation participating in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics in Brazil.
The swimmers said several reasons to stay away from the exercise of their beloved sport, and told «Emirates Today»: «several reasons stood behind this most notably part-time, and the abolition of the Union of the game for the national team».
For his part, the swimmer of the Al Ain team and the former national team, Mohammed Al Ghaferi, said he went to the game of cycling in amateur teams while practicing swimming at times, but not contrary to his activity and new sports, pointing out that he did not represent the Al Ain Swimming Team in three years after he announced The club canceled the public team, and the same situation for the national team, which froze the participation of the first team and rely on the junior team because of many factors, most notably the lack of full-time swimmers from their jobs.
"I am still participating in the championships, but on behalf of the Abu Dhabi Police, I won two gold medals in the last championship, but I went to the amateur sport and participate in the championship," he said. "We have done a lot for the national teams and the role remains for the young people to come. Our problem was part-time and poor training, which certainly affects the level of any athlete."
Al-Wasl international swimmer Mubarak Al-Bishr, one of the most medal-winning athletes in the country, said: “Continuation has become difficult for several reasons, most notably the lack of part-time training and the freezing of the national team, all of which contributed to the lack of continuing our path. In the game, although we have achieved a lot for the UAE sports and now I swim with the club in the tournaments love the game that took us a lot ».
As for Al Wasl swimmer and former national team Mohammed Jassim, he said that the working conditions stood in front of the swimmers on the podiums and part-time, explaining: «There are many factors reduced the chances of us appearing in the tournaments continuously and irregular in training, swimming is a difficult game and needs daily training, and with circumstances Work is affected by the irregular swimmer, in addition to the freezing of the first team by the Federation, which reduced in our back tournaments and the absence of a public team currently swimming ».
Al-Balooshi: The 'premium' was cut off from swimmers
The vice president of the swimming federation Jumaa Al Balooshi said that the federation was forced to freeze the national team when he took over the task of the union because of the part-time swimmers, especially Mubarak Al Bishr and Mohammed Jassem, who were cut bonus in their work because of the full-time period of three months because of their participation with the team in international championships.
“There is a bonus that the two swimmers received in their work and were cut off during their time to join the national team, so they cannot attend training or foreign camps at any time, or go to a preparatory outdoor camp without a championship,” he said. "It is a big obstacle to the Federation and the swimmers."
He added: «swimmers can not train two periods (morning and evening) because of their work, and therefore there is no development in their level or regularity to break the numbers and they are certainly excused, and therefore the best decision was to invest in young swimmers and try to focus with them as a first step to establish a national team, and thus try to reach Solutions with the employers, the Ministry of Education and the General Authority for Sport to properly plan for these young swimmers and develop their level ».
Mohammed al-Ghafari:
• Go to the bike game.
Mubarak Al-Bishr:
• Stay away from the team for part-time.
Mohammed Jassim:
• «Swimming is a tough game».