BEING given a citizenship because of your sporting prowess appears to be all the rage here in Bahrain nowadays.

 

Every time I watch Ethiopian-born sprinter Miriam Jamal on TV standing on the podium with a gold medal over her neck it makes me feel uneasy.

 

I can’t help but wonder whether it would have been different if the athlete was a natural-born Bahraini standing in her shoes and waving the Bahraini flag?

 

Please do not get me wrong, there are many people who see that giving foreigners Bahraini nationality and allowing them to compete in the name of the kingdom as a good thing.

 

However, I see it as a disadvantage to the youth of Bahrain because it only discourages potential athletes since their chances of getting on the track to glory has been sliced, slimmed and for some, taken away, because there are only a limited number of people in a national squad. It is indeed a shame.

 

As a teenager, I am not only saddened by the fact that sport organisations across the kingdom appear to be handing out citizenships to foreigners just for the sake of putting the kingdom “on the map”, but outraged that some clubs appear to be recruiting and picking them young.

 

Is it true that some sporting associations in Bahrain have been recruiting non-Bahraini girls and training them for the future?

 

Can that be fair to the Bahraini youth who now stand little or no chance of grabbing the attention they deserve from the selectors?

 

Looking at the achievements of local young sportsmen such as racing car driver Hamad Al Fardan and tennis player Abdulrahman Janahi, who all are trying to make it into the big time with little support from the authorities, is indeed very inspiring.

 

Should the GOYS be taking care of us, the youth of Bahrain, even more than before? Well yes, it should.

 

Measures must be taken to ensure that it is us – the young Bahrainis – who will stand on the  podium at the Olympics one day waving the flag of our beloved

 

nation.