12 athletes represent the UAE at the World Games in Birmingham

The UAE is participating in the 11th edition of the World Games hosted by Birmingham, USA, with the participation of 3,600 male and female athletes from 100 countries from all over the world competing in 36 different sports, whose events will be held in 15 locations during the period from the seventh to the 17th of next month.

12 athletes from the UAE will compete in four games: Jiu-Jitsu, represented by Faisal Al Ketbi 85 kg, Mohammed Al Suwaidi 69 kg, Muhammad Al Omari 77 kg, Shamma Al Kalbani 63 kg, Muay Thai Nour El Din Samir 63.5 kg, Muhammad Mardi 67 kg, and Amin Al-Mu'tasim 71 kg, Elias Habib 81 kg.

Saud Al Zaabi and Faris Al Zaabi will also participate in the Duathlon competition, while Abdul Bari Al Qubaisi and Cornelia Mihai will compete in the parachute jump competition in air sports.

The UAE achieved four medals in the history of participation in the World Games, which began with the eighth edition in 2009 in Taiwan, where it won the bronze medal in the snooker competition by Muhammad Shehab, while Faisal Al Ketbi, our national jiu-jitsu team player, succeeded in winning the gold and silver medals in the tenth edition that was held in Poland in 2017, and our national air sports team in the same version added the bronze medal in the parachute jump competition for the mixed category.

The UAE occupies the 66th place in the general ranking table of the World Games, while Italy leads the table with 439 medals, followed by the United States of America in second place with 382 medals, and then Germany in third place with 385 due to the preference for the second place holder in terms of the number of gold medals.

The World Games are held every 4 years, organized by the International Association of World Games, which was founded in 1980. It is a non-profit organization consisting of 37 international sports federations and recognized by the International Olympic Committee. The United States is hosting the Games for the second time, 40 years after the establishment of the first edition in 1981. In Santa Clara, California, where it is expected to achieve an economic return for the city of 256 million dollars, the tournament will witness the distribution of 600 medals to athletes, including 200 gold medals in each discipline.

For her part, Eng. Azza bint Sulaiman, Assistant Secretary-General for Administrative and Financial Affairs of the National Olympic Committee, stressed the importance of continuing to enhance the honorable image of UAE sport at all levels, and to leave positive imprints in all the forums and entitlements that our sons and daughters experience in order to raise the flag of the nation and achieve the best results.

Bint Sulaiman indicated that the National Olympic Committee, headed by His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, is keen to harness all means for athletes to achieve the vision of our wise leadership in the process of representing the nation, which is unmatched by the honor and repetition of achievements and successes in a new sports forum, especially after the honorable appearance of the sons of The UAE in the recently concluded Gulf Games in Kuwait.

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