There will be competitions in basketball, soccer and volleyball.

The event is supported by the championship patron Shaikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, UAE Minister for Higher Education and Scientific Reseach, and the sports patron, Subait Khater, UAE national soccer team captain, a media release stated on Wednesday.

The Abu Dhabi Sports Council managed championships will be held at venues across Abu Dhabi including Zayed Sports City (main venue), Saadiyat Beach Golf Club, and the Al Forsan International Sports Resort, Abu Dhabi.

The women only schedule and venues will seek to ‘encourage widest possible participation’ of amateur female athletes at the games, organisers said.

In line with the ‘participation for all’ ethos applied to all their sister-events worldwide, Abu Dhabi Corporate Games 2012 organisers have today announced that, for its inaugural event in the UAE capital in November this year, there will be a distinct women-only event programme, running concurrently alongside the main event.

“Sensitive to local and regional culture, and with a wish to encourage as many amateur female athletes to take part in ‘The Games’, we have arranged for certain sports to have a parallel women-only event schedule for those women or girls who may wish to compete, yet might feel due to cultural norms they can only do so in a female-only environment,” said CEO of Abu Dhabi Corporate Games 2012, Fanny Marcout.

CEO of the ‘Fatima bint Mubarak Ladies Sports Academy’, Dr Mouza Hassan Mohammed Al Shehhi, welcomed the announcement of the introduction of a ladies-only tournament, and said: “The Abu Dhabi Corporate Games 2012 ladies-only tournament enables women to participate in competitive sport in an environment that is sensitive to customs and traditions of the UAE, and the ‘Fatima Bint Mubarak Ladies Sports Academy’ is always keen to encourage events that enable young women to develop and flourish in sports, in the UAE.”

Abu Dhabi Corporate Games 2012 organisers are keen to highlight that the regular event programme is open to both male and female participants and that the women-only events have been scheduled as an additional schedule to the regular programme, in respect of local culture.

However, organisers point out that women and girls who wish to take part in the main schedule of sporting events are certainly welcome to do so.

Games CEO, Marcout, added: “As the leading corporate-focused, multi-sport event organisers in the world, the Corporate Games has gained a lot of experience from having organised over 160 similar events over the last 24 years, and so we are always keenly aware of our responsibilities to the local communities in which we come to and operate in and have even devised separate sponsor packages for the ladies-only event for companies and organisations to become involved, more specifically, for the women’s event.”

The ‘Games’ organisers have forged links with the Women’s Sport Department, of Sharjah Ladies Club, who have previously and successfully organised major women-only sporting events in the UAE, since 1997, like the “GCC Women’s Games” and the recent “Arab Women’s Sport Tournament,” in February 2012.

As well as having ladies participating at the Games, the Women’s Sport Department will lend their expertise in the co-ordination of the Abu Dhabi Corporate Games Ladies-Only events.

Manager of the Women’s Sport Department, Nada Abdul Razaq Askar, said: “We welcome the Abu Dhabi Corporate Games ‘participation for all’ philosophy and support the staging of the Abu Dhabi Corporate Games’ Ladies-Only tournament. This event will encourage and facilitate aspiring amateur female athletes in this region to take part in a global sporting event, and the Women’s Sport Department is delighted to be involved.”

sports@khaleejtimes.com