16 winners of Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Creative Sports Award 2013

Dubai, UAE, 24th of November, 2013: The Board of Trustees of the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Creative Sports Award in its 5th Edition , announced the winners’ names of the 16 categories of the largest award in terms of value and categories, the first of its kind ever devoted to creativity in action sports.

H.H. Sheikha Fatima Bent Mubarak , the Chairperson of the General Women's Union ,Supreme Chairperson of the Family Development Foundation, Chairperson of the Supreme Council for Motherhood has been selected as the "Local Sports Figure" of the Year in the United Arab Emirates, in recognition of her major role in developing sports across the country by supporting and sponsoring sports events that enhanced the UAE prestige on the sport’s world map.

Also Sheikh Salman Bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa has been selected as the "Arab Sports Figure;" Mr. Thomas Bach, the IOC President has been selected as the "International Sports Figure"; and Mrs. Nawal El Moutawakel has won the award of "Arab Sports Figure contributed to the enrichment of women Sports " as an appreciation to her contributions in encouraging women's sports movement.

The Board of Trustees nominated those candidates in recognition of their role in leading and developing the sports movement and for their outstanding achievements.

This announcement came during a press conference held this morning, Sunday , 24th November, 2013, in the presence of His Excellency Mattar Al Tayer, Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Mr. Mustapha Larafaoui, Member of the Board of Trustees and President of the Jury, Dr. Ahmad Al Sharif, Secretary General of the Award, and Mr. Nasser Aman Al Rahma, the Award Director, and a crowd of sports leaders in the United Arab Emirates and representatives of the local and Arab media.

His Excellency Mattar Al Tayer said:

"After an exciting journey, here we reach the pre-final stage of Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Creative Sports Award in its 5th edition; we will announce today the local, Arab and international Foundation winners of the 2013 awards."

Al Tayer added "The award was created based on His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, principal that aim to honor talented athletes, and it was named after H.H. name"

Al Tayer noted that the award is sponsored by His Highness Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of Dubai Sports Council, and it’s been supported by H.H. Sheikh Ahmed Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Chairman of the National Olympic Committee, and the Chairman of the Award .

Al Tayer commented "The athletes and sports media are excited to know the winners that we are announcing today. Those winners have earned their recognition by exerting restless efforts and creativity throughout the past twelve months; they will receive the Order of Merit on 6th, January, 2014 the day that became a milestone of innovation for athletes in the United Arab Emirates, the Arab nation, and the world. "

He added "The award’s 5th Edition was marked with the participation of 226 files for athletes, teams and foundations, indicating increment in quality and quantity of participants. The participation of International Sports Federations has exceeded 93% mark despite the fact that the award is still only in its 2nd year on the International Level. This confirms that the award has become a locomotive for sports excellence and creativity, not only locally and regionally, but globally as well."

The Chairman of the Board of Trustees concluded his speech by saying: "On my behalf, and on behalf of my fellow members of the Board of Trustees, I would like to extend our gratitude to His Highness Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of Dubai Sports Council, and to His Highness Sheikh Ahmed Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Chairman of the National Olympic Committee, and the Chairman of the Award, for their supervision and generous support to sport and athletes in general and particularly to the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Creative Sports Award, I would like also to thank the media representatives and reporters for supporting the award and being our essential partners in developing the sports sector."

The total number of nominees reached (226) files, 66 local files, 136 Arab files, in addition to (23) International Sports Federations.

Local level

At the United Arab Emirates level, Sultan Ali Mohammed Al Taher , has won the "Best Referee Award" after participating in the direction of many international tournaments of the game, and the "Victory Team 3 " for men has won the Team Creativity Award after winning the World Cup for powerboat racing first class 12 times, including 6 times in a row.

Arab Level

Mouataz Essa M. Barsham (Qatar ), has won the" Arab Athlete Award" after winning the Silver medal, 2nd place in the competition of the high jump (2.38 m) at the World Championship of Athletics held in Moscow 2013, while the Football Team of Al Ahly Club (Egypt), has won the "Arab Team Award", and the "Sports Institute, the Pierre de Coubertin" (Tunisia) has won the Creative Arab Foundation Award.

International Level

The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA)

has won the "International Organization – International Category Award" in recognition of their efforts in the joint campaign which aims to highlight the work of the federation in the world "For the Game. For the World"

Appreciation categories

The athletes and sports organizations winners of the 10 awards granted during the 5th edition were announced, and the selection was as follows:

The award for Emirati athlete who achieved International successes was given to Khalifa Sultan Jaber Al Metawi in recognition of his achievement in winning the World Desert Rally Championship 2012/First Category TI, and Mr. Karar Mohammad Jawad( Iraq), who achieved tremendous success in sports field, was awarded Arab Emerging Athlete.

The title of the same category at the UAE level is competed by 6 emerging athletes in implementation of the directives of H.H Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai , Chairman of Dubai Sports Council, Patron of the award to support and honor the distinguished juniors.

The emerging athletes’ names have been submitted for public vote in collaboration with Dubai Sports Channel to select the best three of them. The athletes are: Abdullah Ghanem Al Merri, the number one in the endurance races internal rankings of 2013; Saif Mohammed Al Maasam Al Falasi, the world, Europe and UAE Jet Ski champion of 2012; Khalifa Mohammed Murad, world champion in Jujitsu for juniors in 2012 and 2013; Khalifa Ali Al Jahouri, the winner of the youth and emerging endurance races championship gold medal in France in 2013; Fahd Abbas Abdul Razzaq, gold medalist at Asia's single tennis for juniors in Qatar 2012; and Aisha Sarhan Al Maaini, the schools Olympiad champion of Chess in Bulgaria, Asia and the Arab Championship and the best emerging player in the schools Olympiad in Russia.

Ameen Al Shantoof has won an appreciation award for the category of "athlete who achieved success in sports despite major humanitarian challenges," while the United Nations, Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the Olympic Solidarity Commission have won the award of "International Sports Foundation achieved success based on values", and the Golf In Dubai has won the award of "Sports Foundation with successful creative initiative contributed to the enrichment of the sports movement".

The winners’ awarding ceremony is scheduled to be held on January 6th, 2014 at the Dubai World Trade Centre -Sheikh Rashid Ballroom, at which the winners of all competitiveness and appreciation award categories will be honored and handed their medals of excellence.

For more information, please contact Murad Al Masri at +971 55 1058096.

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