For years, the Sultanate of Oman has been endowed with talents in various sports. However, they were not embraced nor guided enough to project their qualities at the international stage. This indicates a gap between the reality of sporting achievement and sports as a science in its own right.

Since the inception of sports in the Sultanate of Oman, there has never been a system for sport selection to be adopted by competent agencies, nor have we heard of an announcement calling on talented people to compete in field and lab tests that differentiate between applicants for a particular sport. Indeed, even now in 2023, we have not heard of a player passing the specialised lab tests before joining a specific sport, whether individual or team, which is the very foundation for any system of selecting players for any sport, regardless of the financial cost. Winning championships and breaking records never come for free, but are rather the result of cumulative financial support for administrative, technical and health aspects.

The data about sports in the Sultanate of Oman reveal that the reality is far from the expectations that must be reflected in Oman Vision 2040. It is worth noting that celebrating athletic achievement does not come randomly, but is rather the product of a scientific system. It starts with the academic, technical and administrative specialists who provide sports institutions with the knowledge and skills required to create an integrated sports system based on databases and info banks on athletes. Such a system will allow researchers, coaches and analysts to monitor the progress of performance, evaluate the stages of achievement and make the right decisions about training unit formations. It also helps in dealing with sports failure, preparing therapeutic rehabilitation programs for sports injuries and evaluating the sports condition of players before, during and after the sports season. Unfortunately, much of the above may be missing in our sports.

Therefore, it is imperative to reconsider the way of dealing with the future of Omani sports in order to prepare an ambitious practical strategy that contributes to building an integrated system devoid of personal whims or toxic favouritism. It is these practices that cause the chronic decline of sports and thwart the dreams and hopes of many people who are eager for global achievements and reject the idea of “participation for the sake of participation,” which has become an excuse for the helpless. You cannot give what you do not have!

Nowadays, we are witnessing a heated competition among countries in the sports industry, from both competitive and tourist perspectives. They had to reconsider the mechanism of selection, training and qualification in light of research, tests and results of global competitions. Despite that, and rather than taking self-criticism to the extreme, let us be optimistic and say: for change, better late than never. The desire for development is a decision which aims to achieve victory.

Dr. Khalifa Mubarak Al Jadidi

Assistant Professor, Department of Physical Education and Sports Sciences

College of Education, Sultan Qaboos University