Hamdan Sports Complex to host Asian Fencing
dubai — The Hamdan Sports Complex will be teeming with the continent’s top teenaged fencers in the coming days as Dubai plays host to the Asian Junior and Cadet Fencing Championships from Feb. 24 to March 4.
More than 800 fencers from 30 countries are expected to show up for the Under-16 (cadet) and Under-19 (junior) continental championships, which is being organised jointly by the UAE Fencing Federation and the Dubai Sports Council (DSC) under the patronage of Sheikh Ahmed bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the President of the National Olympic Committee.
The announcement was made at Monday’s Press conference at the Dubai Sports Council headquarters, with Sheikh Salem bin Sultan Al Qasimi, Founder and Chairman of the UAE Fencing Federation and a member of the UAE National Olympic Committee’s Executive office, and Saeed Hareb, Secretary General of Dubai Sports Council, in attendance alongside the Assistant Secretary General of DSC, Nasser Aman Al Rahma.
Announcing the details of the event, Al Qasimi said this will be one of the biggest Asian Junior and Cadet Fencing Championships in history with a record number of fencers representing Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, China, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Cambodia, Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Yemen, Australia, New Zealand, Vietnam and the UAE.
“First, on behalf of the UAE’s fencing fraternity and the extended sports family, I would like to thank Sheikh Ahmed for his generous patronage and support of the event,” said Al Qasimi. “This is the biggest Asian Junior and Cadet Championships in terms of both, the numbers of countries participating and the number of fencers.”