page_title: United Arab Emirates
section_title: Sports
hierarchical_section_title: United Arab Emirates / Sports
caption_attribution_description: English: The Yas Marina Circuit, the venue for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, situated on Yas Island, about 30 minutes from the UAE capital of Abu Dhabi. Image taken on October 12, 2018, by a Planet Labs SkySat satellite.
context_page_description: The United Arab Emirates, sometimes simply called the Emirates, is a sovereign state in Western Asia at the northeast end of the Arabian Peninsula on the Persian Gulf, bordering Oman to the east and Saudi Arabia to the south and west, as well as sharing maritime borders with Qatar to the west and Iran to the north. The sovereign absolute monarchy is a federation of seven emirates consisting of Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Dubai, Fujairah, Ras Al Khaimah, Sharjah and Umm Al Quwain. Their boundaries are complex, with numerous enclaves within the various emirates. Each emirate is governed by a ruler; together, they jointly form the Federal Supreme Council. One of the rulers serves as the President of the United Arab Emirates. In 2013, the UAE's population was 9.2 million, of which 1.4 million are Emirati citizens and 7.8 million are expatriates. However, the UAE population in 2020 has seen an increase as per the official reports.
  Human occupation of the present UAE has been traced back to the emergence of anatomically modern humans from Africa some 124,000 BCE through finds at the Faya-2 site in Mleiha, Sharjah.
context_section_description: Formula One is particularly popular in the United Arab Emirates, and a Grand Prix is annually held at the Yas Marina Circuit. The race takes place in the evening, and was the first ever Grand Prix to start in daylight and finish at night. Other popular sports include camel racing, falconry, endurance riding, and tennis. The emirate of Dubai is also home to two major golf courses: the Dubai Golf Club and Emirates Golf Club.
  In the past, child camel jockeys were used, leading to widespread criticism. Eventually the UAE passed laws banning the use of children for the sport, leading to the prompt removal of almost all child jockeys. Recently robot jockeys have been introduced to overcome the problem of child camel jockeys which was an issue of human right violations. Ansar Burney is often praised for the work he has done in this area.
caption: Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi
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