Dubai: The UAE's Shaikha Maitha Bint Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum is continuing with her preparations for the Beijing Olympic Games along with the national team of Morocco.
The Moroccan national team, winners of the recent Arab Taekwondo Championships held in Bahrain, have been in training with the lone UAE representative in karate in Beijing next month.
Training sessions are held twice a day at the Zabeel Club with the entire Moroccan squad getting their preparations in order for the Olympics.
The team from Morocco is scheduled to leave the UAE in the next few days.
Shaikha Maitha is the only UAE athlete participating in the 67kgs category in Beijing.
The final leg of Shaikha Maitha's Olympic preparations will be training with the Korean and Chinese national squads in Seoul and Beijing respectively.
Accompanying Shaikha Maitha will be technical team members of Zabeel Club including Sameer Jumaa, Moina Jadeed and Zeyad Hammad.
Presentation
Meanwhile, the Moroccan taekwondo team presented the Arab Championships Cup to Shaikha Maitha.
This gesture was in appreciation of Shaikha Maitha's support to the Moroccan national team before the competition held in Bahrain.
The Moroccan women's team secured the top honours among the ten participating countries winning four gold medals, one silver and two bronze medals.
"Our team participated in Bahrain with eight players in eight different weight categories and managed to get seven medals besides the cup for the best player in the competition," stated Hassan Esmaili, coach of the Moroccan team.
Ghizlan Toudali who competed in the 51kgs weight category was adjudged the best player in Bahrain.
Morocco collected 55 points to rank third best overall at the end of the Arab Championships in Bahrain.
He said that the successful training camp in Dubai with the support of Shaikha Maitha made the girls to keep their promise in securing the first place before leaving to compete in Bahrain.
The Morocco team will next travel to Tunisia before leaving for Korea for one final camp and their departure to China for the Olympics.
Representing Morocco will be Ghizlan Toudali in the 49kgs, while Mona Bin Abd Al Rasool will participate in the 67kgs - the same as Shaikha Maitha.
