ADNOC sponsors UAE Special Olympics Deleg for World Games Berlin

The announcement was made at a press conference held at the Abu Dhabi Energy Centre. It was attended by Dr. Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and ADNOC Managing Director and Group CEO, Shamma bint Suhail Al Mazrui, Minister of Community Development and Chairperson of the Board of Trustees of Special Olympics UAE, as well as representatives from ADNOC.

The agreement reinforces ADNOC’s commitment to enabling social progress and helping the UAE to build a more inclusive society. Under the agreement, ADNOC will support the Special Olympics UAE programmes to further empower the athletes across various sporting activities, positively impacting the Special Olympics UAE community and People of Determination in the country.

Special Olympics UAE is set to make a remarkable presence at Berlin 2023 by sending the largest delegation from the Middle East and North Africa region. The UAE delegation consists of 167 individuals, including 72 athletes with Intellectual and Developmental disabilities and 31 unified partners. Accompanying them is a dedicated team of technical, medical, and administrative staff.

The Special Olympics UAE athletes will showcase their skills across 20 sports, including swimming, badminton, bowling, athletics, beach volleyball (men), volleyball (women), basketball, cycling, equestrian, and powerlifting. Some of these athletes will also participate in youth conferences organised alongside the Games.

Special Olympics UAE adopted the motto "The Road to Berlin" in their preparations for the Games. The training journey commenced in January, marked by a series of intensive training camps. Three of these camps took place within the UAE. In addition to UAE-based training, the teams also trained abroad. Notably, the Women's Unified Football Team travelled to Japan for a week-long training camp in January.