Racer urges women to ‘do the impossible’

Lizette van Hecke

• Last Updated: February 15. 2009 9:30AM UAE / February 15. 2009 5:30AM GMT

AL AIN // With some help, Muoza al Mansoori lifts herself out of the white “ladies van” of the Abu Dhabi Club for the Disabled and into her wheelchair.

If she is nervous, it does not show. No one would blame her if she were because she is the first female Emirati in UAE history to participate in an international wheelchair sporting event.

The Al Ain International Wheelchair Meeting is the only event of its kind in the Middle East. The third edition, which concluded yesterday, attracted 47 athletes from 14 countries and a permit from the International Paralympics Committee.

Ms al Mansoori’s eyes dart from right to left when she wheels off the track she had been dreaming about since she first laid eyes on her black competition chair two months ago.

“I am proud to be here,” she says, smiling while adjusting her hijab and putting on a pair of blue fleece gloves. “I send a message to all the Emirati women to do the impossible.”

Ms al Mansoori, 26, was born with a condition that paralysed her legs and parts of her midsection, but she refuses to let it get the better of her, saying she feels lucky with her understanding and supportive family.

“I’ve always been like this and it made me strong,” she says. “Even like this I have many friends and they like me as I am.”

This is not always the case in the Emirates, says Soudani Ridha, the Tunisian coach of the Al Ain wheelchair racing team.

“You won’t see a lot of people with disabilities outside because they don’t like to leave the house,” Mr Ridha says. “I think it depends on education and tradition, but generally they don’t accept their handicap here.

“With sports we are doing a lot of things for them. They have to accept themselves and try to make all the people around them accept them. Sports is the best method to help them.”

That vision is shared by the Zayed Higher Organization for Humanitarian Care, Special Needs and Minors Affairs, which co-organises the races.

“Every year we become bigger and more mature,” says Rahma Almezaini, a spokeswoman for the organisation.

“It helps with talking to the municipality and government officials about accessibility for people with disabilities.”

Ms Almezaini recounts how Prawat Wahoram, from Thailand, the 5,000-metre road race gold medallist at the Paralympics in Beijing last year, broke the 10km world record in Al Ain last year and how his achievement remains unsurpassed.

Many well-known athletes on the circuit were at Al Ain, such as the Australian Richard Colman, who won the gold medal and set the Paralympics record for the 800m in Athens 2004, and the UAE’s Mohammad Vahdani, who made it to the finals in Beijing last year and ended fifth in the 100m sprint.

Among such famous racers Ms al Mansoori feels a bit small. She takes a deep breath and says: “Remember I only just started, but I am excited and want to continue and one day I’ll go just as fast.”

While she rolls on to the track without looking to her left, a pack of racers almost runs her over. She notices just in time, grabs her wheels, flicks her wrists and picks up speed towards safety.

The boys of the UAE wheelchair team, huddled together along the track, look with slight disbelief as Ms al Mansoori rolls back to the locker room.

“My athletes here, from the Emirates, from Al Ain, are surprised to see a woman in a wheelchair,” Mr Ridha says. “She’ll have to work hard, but it’s great to see a girl here.”

Another coach, Abir Fara, grabs her by the arms and smoothly lifts her back into her everyday wheelchair. Ms al Mansoori pushes her fashionable big sunglasses back on to her nose.

“I am on mission to prove to everyone, but Emirati people specifically, that women can achieve the same as men,” she says. “My next step will be learning how to drive a car.”

“I’m still at the beginning,” she adds, referring to yesterday’s 100m race results. She finished fifth out of eight international female competitors with a time of 40.37sec.

It might have been double the time of the winner, Manuela Shar of Switzerland, but Ms al Mansoori was not disappointed in the slightest. “I don’t care about what time I did. It’s important I started.”

lhecke@thenational.ae