UAE Football Association vice-president Obaid Salem Al Shamsi has backed the current crop of Under-23 starlets to repeat the feats of their storied predecessors and qualify for the Rio 2016 Olympics.

Dr Abdulla Misfer’s initial 27-man squad begin the first of two training camps today in Dubai as preparations begin in earnest for next month’s AFC U-23 Championship. A top-three finish in the tournament in Qatar from January 12-30 will secure a second-successive entry into the Games.

The likes of Al Ain superstar Omar Abdulrahman and 2015 Asian Cup top scorer Ali Makbhout first shone on a global stage four years ago and Al Shamsi was confident in the current generation’s ability to replicate this success.

He said: “There is no doubt that our ambition focuses towards achieving positive results and we are confident in our young players’ possibilities. They will work to give the best representation of the UAE and raise the banner of the state high.

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“They will utilise all their efforts in order to repeat the achievement of London 2012 and the participation of their brethren who represented us in the last version.

“We hope that this generation follows their example and follow them into the first team.”

A roster which features Arabian Gulf League stars such as Al Nasr goalkeeper Ahmed Shambieh, Al Jazira magician Khalfan Mubarak and Al Wahda forward Mohamed Al Akbari will be together untilWednesday, culminating with a friendly against North Korea.

They will then reconvene from December 27 to January 4. During this spell they will play Syria on December 29, China on January 1 and South Korea on January 4.

The final 23-man selection will then travel to Doha on January 10, ahead of their Group D opener against Australia four days later. Further pool games follow against Jordan on January 17 and Vietnam on January 20.