DUBAI, 13th April 2017: The organizing committee of the Fazza Bisfed (Boccia International Sports Federation) Regional Open Championship – Dubai 2017 announced that 56 elite players representing 10 countries will participate in the competition held under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of Dubai Sports Council, at the Dubai Club for the Disabled from 15th to 19th April.
It is being organized and supervised by the Dubai Club for the Disabled with the support of their strategic partners Dubai Sports Council, Bisfed, the General Authority for Youth and Sports Welfare (GAYSW) and the UAE Paralympic Committee.
These details were announced at a Press conference held on Wednesday morning at the Dubai Club for the Disabled, in the presence of HE Thani Juma Berregad, Chairman of the Organizing Committee of the Fazza Bisfed Regional Open Championship – Dubai 2017, HE Majid Abdullah Al Usaimi, Director of Fazza Championships for the Disabled, Hamad Beljafla, Head of Public Relations committee, and Najib Mushkan, member of the Technical Committee.
The participating countries are Australia, China, Tibet, Hong Kong, India, South Korea, Singapore, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Thailand and hosts UAE who are fielding 13 players. The Fazza Bisfed Regional Open Championship – Dubai 2017 is a qualifier to achieve ranking points for the forthcoming World Championships and Tokyo 2020 Paralympics.
HE Thani Juma Berregad speaking at the Press conference said this competition follows the highly successful Fazza World Para Athletics Championships.
He said: “For the ninth consecutive year with the support of His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of the Dubai Sports Council, Dubai has emerged as a major hub for the development of sports with disabilities. We have a great responsibility which multiplies year after year, to deliver a noble and important message to the community to encourage people with disabilities to exercise their creativity and abilities.”
HE Thani Juma Berregad said UAE has a complete team for the first time.
“We started Boccia in very low profile but now for the first time in this tournament we have the complete team to participate because before we didn’t have players in the BC3 category. Now we have players in all four categories. I am confident some of our players will earn ranking points. Our goal is to get two or three qualifiers for the World Cup and Tokyo 2020. We know that it is very difficult to compete but they have done something new last year. This year we can do something more,” he said.
HE Majid Abdullah Al Usaimi explained that the year after the Paralympics is usually a quiet one where athletes travel less and focus on generating funds for future event especially the next Paralympics.
“We decided as an organizing committee to give an opportunity to the biggest continent in the world (Asia) that has the most professional and best Boccia players in the world to compete in the Fazza tournament. So we have Asian and regional players as well it is Open so anyone from outside our continent can participate,” he said.
HE Majid Abdullah Al Usaimi also spoke about the challenges Boccia players face and reiterated the legacy of the Fazza Championship for the Disabled.
“The legacy of this championship is not limited to competitions, medals and rankings. It goes beyond that to reach to the communities, the integration of people with disabilities specially those athletes of cerebral palsy. They face a lot of challenges travelling in these huge machines (wheelchairs) to public and private areas. However, we can proudly says these athletes are even employed, have families and have their own lives. This is the greatest legacy of Fazza Championships for the Disabled,” he said.
HE Majid Abdullah Al Usaimi announced that the opening ceremony will be held on Saturday 15th April commencing at 7.00pm at a special tent designed for the event at the Dubai Club for the Disabled where the competition will be held for five days until 19th April.
Najib Mushkan said the formal classification of participants and schedule of events will take place on Friday 14th April. The competition will begin with Teams and Pairs events on 15th and 16th April. The Individual competitions will take place on 17th, 18th and 19th April.