Abu Dhabi, UAE. 28 February 2017: Abu
Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority (TCA Abu Dhabi) has formed a
‘dream team’ with English Premier League club Manchester City FC, the
Make-A-Wish Foundation and Emirates Palace, to give two kids an
extraordinary, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Emirati
17-year-old Hamad Khalil Alhousani, who has Type 1 Diabetes, and
15-year-old Syrian Bashar Fouad Alkaisi, who has Thalassemia, are both
huge Manchester
City fans, and were selected by the Make-A-Wish Foundation to have
their wishes granted to meet their heroes from the English Premier
League team.
Players
from Manchester City were at Emirates Palace for mid-season
warm-weather training. TCA Abu Dhabi, who are the official Destination
Partners for
the Premier League team, organised for the two
teenagers to be taken along to meet some of the team’s star players.
Hamad
and Bashar went along to the iconic Abu Dhabi hotel, one of the most
luxurious in the world, where they got to meet club captain Vincent
Kompany,
Brazilian midfielder
Fernandinho, Serbian star Aleksandar Kolarov and rising Mancunian player
Tosin Adarabioyo, have their pictures taken, and then receive signed shirts from the team.
Bashar almost couldn’t believe he was shaking hands with his
heroes— it was a dream-come-true.
“It
was really amazing to meet the players from Manchester City, and I
would like to thank them all for signing the shirts,” said Bashar. “I
would also
like to thank the Make-A Wish Foundation for this opportunity. It is an
experience I will never forget.”
Hamad was also delighted with the surprise, as he got to meet his heroes, proudly holding his newly-signed shirt.
“To
attend the Manchester City training session here at Emirates Palace was
an incredible experience,” he said. “In fact, I hope this will happen
again
for me! I’d also like to thank the Make-A-Wish Foundation for this
experience!”
Belgian legend Kompany,
was inspired by the bravery of the two teenagers, and said: “It was a
pleasure to meet Hamad and Bashar. They have both shown a great amount
of courage and determination recently and we were delighted to invite
them to watch one of our training sessions in
Abu Dhabi.”
Hani
Al Zubaidi, chief executive of the Make-a-Wish foundation in the UAE
added: “I’d like to thank Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority,
Manchester City
and Emirates Palace for affording us the opportunity to bring two kids
such as Bashar and Hamad down to meet the players like this. I know this
is something that they will remember for a long, long time, and it was
great to see their smiling faces as they
got to meet the players.”
