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Dubai hosts Artistic Swimming World League for the first time

On December 13-14, Hamdan Sports complex hosted an Artistic Swimming World League with more than 160 participants from 14 countries including UAE athletes!

Published: Wed 27 Dec 2023, 11:08 AM

Updated: Wed 27 Dec 2023, 11:44 AM

The event was organised my Doubled Sports Club and supported by Dubai Sports Council with the theme of peace, respect and unity, to remind about athletes all around the globe about the pillars of sportsmanship, and nation equality in the sports world.

National Team athletes of Greece and Belarus, competing on the World Aquatics events and Olympic Games took part in free routines competition before attending Doha World Aquatics Games.

The first day of the World League has started with solo-individual competition among the youngest category of athletes, including Aisha Alkhoori - an Emirati athlete training at Doubled Sports Club, who received the 5th place, competing with Kazakhstan and Russia.

Another Emirati athlete Malak Lamar, competed with Czech Republic, Spain, Russia and Kazakhstan in Youth category Solos, receiving a total score of 55,625. Daria Galkina, the organizer of the World League admitted growing interest for Artistic Swimming among Emirati athletes, and talented athletes start entering the sports.

The second day of the League started with the competition among acrobatic routines of United Kingdom, Greece, Russia, and Belarus, followed by the duet events. The world medalist from Greece, Evangelia Platanioti, together with her partner Sofia Malkogeorgou won gold in duets with the total score of 241.5292, while athletes from Belarus took silver and Russian duet from Tatarstan came the third.

Technical controllers team including Tokyo Olympic Champion Marina Goliadkina and multiple World Champion Anastasia Arkhipovskaya, together with Iva Gricar admitted high level of organisation of the event and the willingness to be a part of the event next year.

The Referee of the Artistic Swimming World League, Monika Szczesniak acknowledged her satisfaction with Hamdan Sports Complex as a facility to host the event, and expressed her believe in successful development of Artistic Swimming in the region and inspiration for the young girls in the UAE to become professional athletes.