So sad, so true

Both Gulf News and the National picked this up:

As the UAE faces the prospect of leaving the Beijing Olympics without a single medal, the country’s top Olympics official has admitted that hopes of attracting more young Emiratis into sport and challenging for future international honours rest on changing their “easy-living culture”.

“The Emirati youth has little interest in sport compared to young people in other countries, with the exception of football,” Ibrahim Abdul Malik, the secretary general of the UAE’s Olympic Committee, said from the Chinese capital.“The life of the people has changed. Emiratis have a soft and easy lifestyle. But sport is not easy – it is hard.”

Mr Malik said sport failed to register in the culture of young Emiratis. “It is really important to realise this,” he said. “The UAE youth prefers to go to the shopping centre rather than to do sport.