Page 43 - Ministry of Sports PR Report - October 2024

10/23/24, 9:55 AM Ministry of Sports leads ‘Future of Sports Retreat’ to explore ways to enhance sports development, advance National Sports Strate…
The retreat provided participants an opportunity to reflect the significance of collaboration and combined efforts
among all partners in the sports sector to achieve the core objectives of the initial phase of National Sports
Strategy 2031. In less than a year, the UAE sports community has realized a completion rate of approximately 95
percent of all eight high-priority projects in the first phase of the new national sports strategy. Core pillars of the
UAE’s sports strategy include increasing the community member participation in sports to 75 percent by 2031,
raising the number of athletes qualifying for the Olympic Games to over 30 by the Brisbane 2032 Olympics, and
intensifying efforts to boost the sports sector’s contribution to the non-oil GDP, aiming for 0.5 per cent by 2031.

The “Future of Sports Retreat” program featured a series of brainstorming sessions that focussed on five key
topics: Youth and Sports, University Sports, Sports and International Public Diplomacy, Expanding Olympic
Participation, and Identifying and Supporting Development of Elite Athletes. Additionally, the event honoured
athletes who participated in the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, for their exceptional performances
during the event and their significant contributions to enhancing the UAE’s positive reputation on the global
sports scene.

The retreat concluded with a series of key recommendations and announcements, the most noteworthy being the
launch of the inaugural University Games. The University Games is a program designed to enable exceptional
athletes at universities across the UAE to compete against each other on a national stage. The University Games
will feature competition in three sports — football, basketball, and volleyball — with participation from 21
universities across the emirates.

The University Games is structured to help facilitate the process of discovering and nurturing sports talent in
support of the national sports strategy objective of expanding the base of sports participation among students in
schools and universities while fostering a culture of professionalism and enabling a new generation of elite
athletes in the region.

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