UAE Olympic team clinch Asian Games bronze

The UAE Olympic team players on the podium in Cibinong, Indonesia, on Saturday. -AFP

The future of UAE football looks bright and is in good hands after the country's Olympic team, the next generation, clinched the bronze in the men's competition of the Asian Games on Saturday.
Maciej Skorza's boys can now proudly say that they are the third best team on the Asian continent after getting through Vietnam in a dramatic penalty shoot-out at the Pakansari Stadium in Cibinong, Indonesia. After Ahmed Al Attas, one of the shining lights of the UAE, had given UAE the lead on 17 minutes, Nguyen Van Quyet got Vietnam level 10 minutes later. It remained a stalemate at the end of regulation time after which the UAE lads kept their nerves to come through 4-3 on penalties.
The UAE made no mistake from the spot with Ahmed Al Attas, Zayed Al Ameri, Khaled Ibrahim and Shahin Suroor, all on target. Vu Van Thanh, Ha Duc Chinh and Phan Van Duc scored for Vietnam but Nguyen Quang Hai and Tran Minh Vuong failed from the spot. Hai missed, while Vuong's attempt was brilliantly saved by Mohamed Al Shamsi, the Al Wahda shot stopper having had a standout tournament. It was the third time that the UAE had prevailed on penalties after beating Indonesia 4-3 in the Round of 15 and North Korea 5-3 in the quarterfinals.
The bronze was a culmination of the hard work put in by this talented bunch of players and ably guided by Polish coach Skorza. The medal also swelled UAE's tally to 14, the country's best ever showing at the Asiad since the 2006 Games in Doha, where they had won 10 medals. The UAE's biggest haul came in jiu-jitsu where they won nine medals, which included two gold, five silver and two bronze. Two medals came from JetSki, a gold and silver, while a medal each came from judo and shooting, both bronze.
It has been a long but fruitful road since the UAE made their first appearance at the Games in 1978 in Bangkok, Thailand and their first medal since the 1994 Asiad in Hiroshima, Japan, where they won one silver and three bronze medals.
Ever since, the UAE won a bronze at the 1998 Games in Bangkok, two silver and a bronze at Busan, South Korea in 2002, 10 in Doha, four silver and a bronze at the 2010 Games in Guangzhou, China, and one gold and three bronze medals in Incheon, South Korea in 2014. The UAE have now won 41 medals in total since Hiroshima, Japan.
Meanwhile, South Korea showed their might by winning their fifth title after defeating Japan 2-1. Following a tight regulation period where South Korea and Japan gave nothing away,
Lee Seung-woo and Hwang Hee-chan scored for South Korea on 93 and 101 minutes respectively. Ayase Ueda raised hopes of a Japan fightback after he reduced the deficit on 115 minutes. But the South Koreans held on for a famous win.
james@khaleejtimes.com