DUBAI // A committee recently formed with the intention of putting the UAE on the world map for squash met for the first time in Dubai yesterday. The UAE Squash Association believe the infrastructure, which includes approximately 1,500 courts across the country, is already in place and will assist their aim of producing a world champion squash player. "One day we believe we can have a boy or girl from the UAE who is the champion of the world," said Bader al Mansoori, the association's secretary general.
"That is our ultimate aim. This is a very elegant game that people of any age or ability can come and enjoy the game." More than 3,500 players are involved in league competitions across the country. The new organisation plan to formalise the standards of competition and coaching across all seven emirates. "The game has been played here for many years, but without an official association to control and promote it," added Abdul Aziz al Bannai, the chairman of the UAE Squash Association.
"It is our responsibility to bring together all the clubs across the country under one body and provide coaching to all squash-lovers, including Emiratis. "Our main aim is to promote the game, bring the young generation to squash, and arrange local and international tournaments involving world-class players." Discussions have also taken place over bringing the world's best players to Dubai for an exhibition tournament next year.
"Until now one or two people have done their best to organise the sport here, now it is the official responsibility of seven of us to give our time to the game," said Abbas Khan, the long-serving coach who was appointed as technical director of the new body. "There are a huge amount of courts available for a country the size of UAE. I come from Pakistan, where there are perhaps only 200 squash courts in the country."
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Series info
Test series schedule 1st Test, Abu Dhabi: Sri Lanka won by 21 runs; 2nd Test, Dubai: Play starts at 2pm, Friday-Tuesday
ODI series schedule 1st ODI, Dubai: October 13; 2nd ODI, Abu Dhabi: October 16; 3rd ODI, Abu Dhabi: October 18; 4th ODI, Sharjah: October 20; 5th ODI, Sharjah: October 23
T20 series schedule 1st T20, Abu Dhabi: October 26; 2nd T20, Abu Dhabi: October 27; 3rd T20, Lahore: October 29
Tickets Available at www.q-tickets.com
Stat Fourteen Fourteen of the past 15 Test matches in the UAE have been decided on the final day. Both of the previous two Tests at Dubai International Stadium have been settled in the last session. Pakistan won with less than an hour to go against West Indies last year. Against England in 2015, there were just three balls left.
Key battle - Azhar Ali v Rangana Herath Herath may not quite be as flash as Muttiah Muralitharan, his former spin-twin who ended his career by taking his 800th wicket with his final delivery in Tests. He still has a decent sense of an ending, though. He won the Abu Dhabi match for his side with 11 wickets, the last of which was his 400th in Tests. It was not the first time he has owned Pakistan, either. A quarter of all his Test victims have been Pakistani. If Pakistan are going to avoid a first ever series defeat in the UAE, Azhar, their senior batsman, needs to stand up and show the way to blunt Herath.
MEYDAN CARD
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