Reda Saleem (Dubai)
Dubai has turned into the Asian rugby forum, after hosting the Asian qualifiers for men and women qualifying for the World Cup in South Africa 2022, and hosting the meeting of the Executive Office of the Federation headed by Qais Al Dhali and the meetings of the Asian Congress, which come at the time of the start of the Emirates Airline Rugby Sevens Championship at the “The Sevens” stadium.
Dubai also hosted the AFC Awards Ceremony, which was held at the Address Boulevard Hotel in Dubai, which witnessed a large presence at the continental level, where the best 4 personalities who made great efforts for the game throughout the 2021 season were chosen, where the President of GUAM was honored as the most cooperative president of the association. The Sri Lankan Dohrai Fedrado was honored as the best referee, and the Chinese women’s team won the best title in 2021 due to its first participation in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, and Afghani Arif Burdah won the award for the best administrative figure who has served the federation for more than 30 years.
Qais Al Dhalei, President of the AFC, confirmed that the UAE is currently hosting the largest continental events, especially the meetings of the Asian Congress, the Executive Office and the annual awards ceremony, noting that the Executive Office unanimously approved the decision to transfer the headquarters of the Federation from Hong Kong to the UAE, a meeting attended by 15 members , including 10 members in attendance and 5 by video call, and it will be approved by the General Assembly of the Union, in which representatives of 34 countries participate.
He stressed that the decision to unanimously approve the transfer of the headquarters is a historic decision that confirms the position of the UAE in the Asian continent, as it represents the soft power of the state in its relationship with the rest of the world, in addition to the sports diplomacy that put the UAE at the top of the continental pyramid in leading the helm of rugby for the coming years through The presidency of the union and hosting the headquarters.
He pointed out that the presence of such a large number of representatives of the member state of the AFC at this time, which coincides with the country’s celebrations of the fiftieth anniversary and Expo 2021, is a great promotion for the Emirates in the yellow continent.
Al Dhalei revealed the Sultanate of Oman’s accession to the membership of the AFC, a decision that was approved by the Executive Office, and is awaiting approval from the General Assembly to be the 35th member. by acclamation, which gave him the official instrument of accession.
He added that the presence of rugby in the Gulf region in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Oman gives us the opportunity to hold the first Gulf championship in the game, and there are great efforts to join Kuwait, Bahrain and the Maldives, and the ambition is to reach the number of members to 38 next year.
Al Dhalei noted that the Executive Office has approved a calendar of tournaments for the new season, in which the number of tournaments approaches 16, which is considered a strong return to the activity of the Federation, whose tournaments were suspended due to the Corona pandemic and returned with only 3 tournaments, and we hope that the number of tournaments will increase again.
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