Prince Talal bin Badr bin Saud bin Abdul Aziz, President of the Arab and GCC Basketball Federations, is hoping the 'Dubai Phenomenon' of marketing sports events among corporate bodies catches on in the entire Arab world in the near future.
"Dubai is way ahead of the times," Prince Talal told Gulf News during an informal chat on the lines of the 14th Dubai international basketball championship being held at the Maktoum bin Mohammed Al Maktoum indoor sports hall at the Al Ahli Club.
"It's a fantastic achievement to see so many big corporates actively involved in the promotion and sponsorship of sport here," Prince Talal lauded.
With such an experience before him, Prince Talal - who took over as the interim chief of the Arab Basketball Federation (ABF) in September last year - hopes the idea of corporate support to sports will disperse into other Arab nations. "In future, I want to see all help from government in the sports sector wither away," he pledged.
"And what Dubai has started so long ago is a fantastic lesson before us all. We have to now set a time frame and make it our own way of promoting sports in the region," Prince Talal added.
The Saudi Arabia Basketball Association President also sang paeans to General Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and UAE Minister of Defence. "Sheikh Mohammed gives so much attention to all sport. But he has been so supportive of basketball here that the results can now be seen," Prince Talal stated.
"What we're seeing now here in Dubai, we will be experiencing all over the Gulf and the Arab nations in the next 10 years," Prince Talal promised.
"I'm so excited to be here that I want to utilise each and every moment to see how the system works so that we can all learn from the negatives, if any," Prince Talal stated.
Despite being the GCC champions, the UAE will have to take up the cause of finding quality players to replace fading stars like Hamdan Saeed and Abdul Latif in the near future, observed the ABF president.
"Hamdan is on his way out and Abdul Latif won't be around too long. So the UAE's vulnerability is the lack of players with good height and promising and inspirational talent like that of Hamdan. I'm sure the UAE Basketball Association (UAE BA) taking adequate measures to solve this drawback," Prince Talal hoped.
Not one to rush things, Prince Talal hoped he would have adequate time on his hands in seeing his plans being put into action at the GCC and Arab levels.
"We need to transfer dreams into actuals," Prince Talal remarked.
"We have set focussed goals before us and it won't be long before we start putting things in the right perspective," Prince Talal stressed.
His first goal, the ABF chief said, is to find sponsors for both the Gulf and Arab competitions. This will be followed by roping in sponsors who would be willing to pump in money on a regular basis in all member countries.
"We want to take it one at a time. But we will achieve at 90 per cent of what we're saying," Prince Talal vouched.
He was confident that a crucial member like the UAE would continue lending their support to the promotion of the game in the Gulf and Arab world.
"We will be having elections for the ABF in another two or three months and that will ease out certain things among members," Prince Talal said.
"After that, it will be time for action," he concluded.
Gulf News 2003
