Irish duo step in to save Asian and African Olympic sailing qualifiers

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Two Irishmen in Oman have come to the rescue of the Asian and African Olympic sailing qualifiers.

The six-day event involving over 150 sailors from more than 65 counties across five classes was due to take place in Abu Dhabi next week. However, the United Arab Emirates pulled out, just weeks prior to their staging of it, due to escalating Covid numbers in the country.

Instead, it will now be hosted at the Millennium Resort in Mussanah, approximately 100km north of Muscat, from April 1 thanks to the work of Dubliner Joe Rafferty and Kildare man Dermot Birchall.

What would usually be 18 months to two years in planning will be turned around in less than a month, the official government approval being given late last week. It is Oman’s first international event in over a year.

Since November 2018, Rafferty has headed up the strategic development of sports tourism in the Sultanate of Oman. The 41-year-old previously worked with Titan Experience and Ironman in Ireland, having been Sunderland AFC marketing manager in the late 2000s.

Birchall is the general manager of Millennium Resort, a million square metre property which was purposely built for the Asian Beach Games in 2010. The pair will also be overseeing the 49er world championships there in November.

Protocols around the event are strict. All attendees must present a certified negative Covid-19 test before entering the country.

They are then required to take another test on arrival, with a second negative test allowing them to enter the event bubble, which will be in place until April 8 when the qualification event ends.