Today’s qualification at the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games signified a lot for all 64 archers but more so for six national squads in particular.
Those of Algeria, Georgia, Guinea, Tunisia, Uzbekistan and the United Arab Emirates were the first athletes from their respective nations to step onto a Youth Olympic Games archery shooting line.
The latter may be a more surprising name in archery for some, given the Emirates’ willingness to invest in sport, from making Manchester City Premier League and Champions League winners in football to hosting UFC events and Formula One Grands Prix.
Perhaps Dakar 2026 will mark a turning point in that investment, as Khalifa Musabeh Alkaabi and Huda Saleh Alali look to win historic medals for their country at the Abdoulaye Wade Stadium.
Alkaabi’s journey to the Senegalese capital, though, is as much his father’s story as it is his own.
“My father introduced me to the sport after seeing my cousins achieve good results in archery,” said Alkaabi. “Interestingly, my father had a dream of seeing me win a gold medal in archery. I found the sport interesting, and as I continued, I developed a real love for it.”
“It gave me confidence and motivated me to take it seriously, almost like a job. Although nobody else in my family participated in sport professionally, I’m the one who represents the family in sports.”
While his whole family awaits news of how the 16-year-old gets on this week, his father will be the one who “watches closely”, Alkaabi revealed, just as he has done since his son was nine.
A little over a year after he started, Alkaabi was regularly travelling up and down the Emirates, competing for his club, Al Madam Cultural Sports Club, before eventually joining the national youth teams.
His journey then took another step forward when he was selected for the United Arab Emirates’ under-18 recurve squad for the Limerick 2023 World Archery Youth Championships in Ireland as a 13 year old boy. He first competed internationally at the 2023 Veronica’s Cup before travelling to Limerick.
