UAE misses out on third athlete

The UAE’s hopes of having a historic three athletes at the track-and-field event of the Olympic Games ended in disappointment when Alia Saeed Mohammad missed the mark by a mere second at an international athletic meeting on Sunday. Running in the women’s 1,500 metres, Alia Saeed clocked 15.31 minutes, narrowly falling short of the B standard time of 15.30 minutes to miss making the cut in the UAE squad for the London Olympic Games. “It is disappointing for all of us as we had hoped for a record three-qualified athletes in London. But this is the scenario and we are proud of our two athletes who have made it to the Olympics with such a fine performance for the very first time in the history of the UAE,” said Ahmad Al Kamali, President of the UAE Athletics Association (UAE AA), told Gulf News. Betlhem Desalegn Belayneh and Mohammad Abbas had booked their places for London after qualifying for the 1,500m women and triple jump for men respectively at separate athletic meets last month.Belayneh secured her qualification in the women’s 1,500m at an accredited meeting held in Morocco, while Abbas leapt 16.79 metres at a qualifying competition held in Bulgaria. With a July 8 deadline to qualify to the London Olympics, the UAE had pinned their hopes on distance runner Alia Saeed provided she could clock the required time of 15 minutes, 30 secondss in the 5,000m at the last IAAF-accredited qualifying meet held in Germany on Sunday [July 8]. Mohammad Abbas, who jumped 16.79 mts during a qualifying event in Bulgaria last month, had also fallen short of the qualifying standard of 16.85 mts by a mere six centimetres. However, he was still allowed to represent the UAE at the London Games due to a stipulation that he is the lone male athlete being sent by the country. Despite being assured of a place in London, Abbas had tried to better the standard mark in the triple jump at an IAAF meeting held in Athens, but he too fell short on Sunday. The UAE National Olympic Committee (UAE NOC) has already announced a major part of its delegation heading to London. Now, with Alia Saeed having failed to make the grade, the squad will consist of three shooters, one judoka, one swimmer, a weightlifter and the football team, along with the two track-and-field athletes. “For sure, this is the largest delegation to an Olympic Games from the UAE and we can be proud of this achievement,” Al Kamali said. from gulfnews.com