Fatima Al Hosani, the UAE’s only discus thrower, is looking to bank on the experience she got at the Nanjing Youth Olympics last year when she heads to the World Youth Athletics Championships in Cali, Colombia.

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Al Hosani, who recently picked up two silver medals at the Asian Youth Championships in Doha and the Arab Youth Championships in Tunisia, is currently preparing for her debut at the world championship level and is hoping her trip to Nanjing last summer can help her cause in Colombia.

“I’m the only discus thrower amongst all UAE athletes,” Al Hosani, 16, told Sport360.

“It was a big thing to go to Nanjing, to stay, live and eat with all the other champions there. It was amazing to see how they train, how they compete, their technique, it was a great experience, I learned so much.

“I want to dream, I want to win, and I should train hard for it.

“Insha’Allah I want to get two gold medals at the World Championships and the Asian Championships.”

Al Hosani threw 41.80m to win silver in Doha last May, which was just short of her personal best distance of 42.07m.

“It was a small dream come true to win a medal in Doha,” said the Emirati teenager.

“It’s not the first medal for me in Asia – I won my first in Thailand. It’s just amazing.”

Al Hosani says her mother is her biggest supporter, and was the first to encourage her to take up the sport and she also has the full backing of the UAE Athletics Federation and its president Ahmed Al Kamali.

While she admits she remains an anomaly amongst the typical Emirati teenagers, she has become a popular figure at her school after her international participations and medal-showing performances.

“In school they’re telling me ‘oh I’ve seen you on TV’ and they’re like ‘this is my friend, this is my friend’. I feel famous when I’m in school, they ask to take photos with me and things like that,” she added.

Al Hosani isn’t the only young female breaking new ground for the UAE in the track and field realm. Alia Al Hammadi has become the first Emirati to compete in high jump and also captured a silver medal at the Arab Championships in Tunisia.

The 17-year-old Al Hammadi got acquainted with high jump through her PE teacher at school and joined the UAE national team two years ago.

“I hope more girls like me can compete in high jump. The UAE has only one girl doing high jump, that’s just not possible. We need more girls to join the national team,” said Al Hammadi.

“I’m still far off the Olympic and World Championship standards but I will work hard to improve and hope to compete in such events in the future.”