Qais Al Dhalai believes the re-introduction of expatriates to UAE sevens rugby will provide Emirati players with the “winning spirit” to succeed in the future.

Roelof Kotze, the UAE national team’s performance manager, announced last month that he was bringing back expats into the sevens fold after the UAE failed to qualify for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, where sevens rugby will make its debut.

The UAE Under-20 side play two tournaments this month, in Malaysia and Hong Kong, while the senior side will appear at the Shanghai 7s and Colombo 7s in September and October respectively.

Al Dhalai, the secretary general of the UAE Rugby Federation, believes elite expat players will help local players progress as he looks ahead to the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.

“We are very proud that the expats are joining the Emiratis” – Al Dhalai

“The 2016 Olympics is the past for us,” Al Dhalai told Sport360. 

“We have not reached them. For the next Olympics in 2020, the board has decided we will have a mix of the top expatriate players. Those expat players will bring a winning spirit.

“They will do that for maybe the next two-and-a-half to three years until the pre-Olympic qualification begins and then the Emirati boys will step up on their own.”

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International Olympic Committee and Olympic Council of Asia regulations stipulate that countries appearing in any event at the Olympics must feature players with passports from that country.

Expats would not be able to feature at the Olympics in the case of the UAE qualifying, but Al Dhalai says they can enhance the development of Emirati players and therefore their prospects of featuring in sevens at a future Games.

“The ultimate goal is the sevens team should be all-Emirati,” said Al Dhalai.

“It is a gradual process and will take three years, then the Emirati boys will depend on themselves. They will have the rhythm of winning games. They’ll have a winning character. We always think smartly and what is good for the players. We are very proud that the expat players are joining the Emirati boys.”