Kuwait City, Kuwait, March 22, 2022: Ahmed Al Kulaibi has a dream – that one day, soon, Oman will win a medal in the pool at the Asian Games.
“This is our target. We have won at other regional Games, but the big one for Oman is to win a medal in the Asian Games,” says Omani national swimming coach Ahmed during a break on the opening day of the Olympic Council of Asia’s special development project for coaches and referees.
More than 300 coaches and referees from 12 National Olympic Committees in West Asia have turned up in Kuwait for the ground-breaking seminars and clinics across nine sports.
Swimming, handball and volleyball set the ball rolling on Tuesday, March 22, with football, judo, gymnastics, athletics, basketball and table tennis to follow over the next few weeks. The courses will end on May 12.
“We are very grateful to the Olympic Council of Asia for organising this event. It is important for us coaches, the information and knowledge we will learn will be invaluable to us,” said Ahmed, who was the first Omani to win a swimming medal, back in 1998 at the Arab Championships in Jordan.
At present there are 30 swimmers in the Oman national team. Of this number, it is hoped that three or four will make it to this September’s Asian Games in Hangzhou, China.
“The Asian Games is our ultimate goal. We are working very hard towards that target and what I learn over the next few days here will definitely help,” said Ahmed. “Learning from a world-class coach doesn’t happen every day.”
He was referring to top USA Swimming coach Dr. Genadijus Sokolovas, who has trained such illustrious names in the sport like Michael Phelps and Dara Torres.
“It was an excellent session. He took us step-by-step and we thoroughly understood the importance of body position, hand position, breathing, movement, and this was in just the opening session. I hope all this information will benefit Oman Swimming,” said Ahmed.
At the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta and Palembang, Oman was represented by two male swimmers, Issa Samir Hamed Al-Adawi and Abdul Rahaman Al-Kulaibi. They did not progress past the heats.
“One day, we hope to win a medal in swimming. And I hope that day is not far away,” added Ahmed.