DUBAI // The UAE will travel to this weekend’s Kuala Lumpur Sevens with a depleted squad as a number of their best-regarded players are enrolled in national service.
The national team have already found the going tough in this season’s Asian Sevens Series, having finished last in the opening leg in Hong Kong last month.
Now they will are unable to call on a number of emerging players for the second leg in Malaysia.
The teenagers Majid Al Balooshi, Younes Al Balooshi and Abdul Al Hajri are regarded by Roelof Kotze, the coach, as “crucial to where we want to go”.
However, each will be missing this weekend as they start their military training.
“We have lost players out of our system, players who have worked hard over the past two years, as they have to do national service,” Kotze said.
“There are a few guys who will be missing, possibly for a few months, although hopefully not completely, as they will be undertaking their basic training.”
This weekend’s tournament in Malaysia is relatively low-key. However, it will provide the side with more match time together as they prepare for Olympic pre-qualifying tournaments later this year.
The national team need to advance from tournaments in Al Ain and India later this season if they are to join next year’s Asian Sevens Series, and thus maintain their hopes of playing at the Rio Olympics in 2016.
“Maybe it will be good for us as a fitness exercise,” Mohammed Shaker, the national team manager, said of the players who will be absent due to national service.
“Hong Kong was a tough tournament for a lot of reasons. Coach Roelof is now trying to solve the mistakes, and at the end of the day it is a learning curve for us.”
pradley@thenational.ae
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How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League quarter-final, second leg (first-leg score):
Manchester City (0) v Tottenham Hotspur (1), Wednesday, 11pm UAE
Match is on BeIN Sports
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MATCH INFO
UAE Division 1
Abu Dhabi Harlequins 12-24 Abu Dhabi Saracens
Slow loris biog
From: Lonely Loris is a Sunda slow loris, one of nine species of the animal native to Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore
Status: Critically endangered, and listed as vulnerable on the International Union for Conservation of Nature red list due to growing demand in the global exotic pet trade. It is one of the most popular primate species found at Indonesian pet markets
Likes: Sleeping, which they do for up to 18 hours a day. When they are awake, they like to eat fruit, insects, small birds and reptiles and some types of vegetation
Dislikes: Sunlight. Being a nocturnal animal, the slow loris wakes around sunset and is active throughout the night
Superpowers: His dangerous elbows. The slow loris’s doe eyes may make it look cute, but it is also deadly. The only known venomous primate, it hisses and clasps its paws and can produce a venom from its elbow that can cause anaphylactic shock and even death in humans
The Kingfisher Secret
Anonymous, Penguin Books
The Two Popes
Director: Fernando Meirelles
Stars: Anthony Hopkins, Jonathan Pryce
Four out of five stars