Born, bred and based in Dubai, one badminton and five swimmers training towards sporting highpoint

DUBAI: Dubai will have the proud boast of having at least six athletes competing at the Paris Olympic Games to be held at the end of this month.

Born, bred and residing in Dubai, the six athletes are Indian badminton star Tanisha Crasto along with swimmers Yazan Al Bawwab (Palestine), Muhammad Ahmed Durrani (Pakistan), Rana Saad Al Din (Sudan), Karen Belbeisi (Jordan) and Eritrea’s Christina Rach.

The Paris Olympic Games will be held in the French Capital from July 26 to August 11 and these six athletes will make Dubai proud for being among the best in the world while making us of the excellent sporting infrastructure in Dubai.

Born and residing in Dubai, the 21-year-old Tanisha Crasto expressed her delight at qualifying to represent India in the badminton doubles along with Ashwini Ponnappa at the 2024 Paris Games. She expressed her gratitude for the efforts put in by the Dubai Sports Council while launching the Dubai Badminton Time programme, which gave her the opportunity to train, practice develop her talent while making it to the top of her sport.

Backed by her parents Tulip and Clifford, Tanisha came through the badminton system while utilizing the facilities provided by an excellent sporting city like Dubai. Her father mentioned that the availability of top-class training facilities designed to the highest standards, along with the care and support for the sports sector from the academic wing gave his daughter the right platform in putting in hard hours of practice on court on a daily basis.

In addition, she benefitted from the availability of competitions throughout the year and at all levels, Clifford pointed out. “The ever-ready presence of top-class coaches and sports specialists here have further contributed to giving our daughter the necessary experience to develop her level,” he added.

Swimmers Karen Belbeisi from Jordan and Christina Rush of Eritrea have been training since their teenage years at the Hamilton Academy Dubai, that is based at the state-of-the-art Hamdan Sports Complex. It is here that the two swimmers learned to swim and develop until they qualified to represent their respective country at the Olympics.

In addition, there are three others swimmers, namely Yazan Al Bawwab, Muhammed Ahmed Durrani and Rana Saad Al Din who have also been training at the Speedo Dubai Academy since his budding years. All five swimmers from Dubai have competed in their respective age groups so far, at various competitions that have been held at the Hamdan Sports Complex.

Each of these six athletes who have qualified for Paris have been performing over a sustained period of time while winning a large number of titles and medals at various local, regional and international championships with the academies they train with in Dubai. Ultimately, they have all been able to fulfill their dreams of reserving a ticket to participate at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Over a period of time, Dubai has become the preferred destination for the best international academies. It is also among the most favoured training stop for world champions in various Olympic sports

Dubai, on the other hand, has not disappointed as it has risen to be among the most prominent host for athletes and teams preparing for specialized individual and team sports to set a truly high standard.