Flying is a recent addition to Dubai sports, but fast catching up as a fun activity among tourists traveling to Dubai. Soaring over the incredible city and the surrounding desert can be exhilarating while on a visit to Dubai. Being airborne whether in a helicopter, plane, or a hot air balloon, flying is an enchanting experience. For the adventure-smitten traveler there is also paragliding, the thrilling flying fantasy of participants in Dubai sports.

The Gentleman’s game of cricket is a small but conspicuous part of Dubai sports with a large number of expatriate Indians, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis residing in the city. One can come across passionate cricket fans on a visit to Dubai, and they keep track of every international match, though the city itself has no public cricket grounds.

Motor racing is one of the many Dubai sports which have emerged in the recent decades as an adventure sport. Go-Karting is a newer sport but has gained public interest over the years and if you travel to Dubai, you can feel the acceleration of the adrenaline rushes when you actually sit in one of the 13 horsepower Karts which skims the floor at 130 km/hour as you race around the CIK Approved Karting tracks at the Dubai Autodrome in Dubailand.

‘Swimming in the sea’ is what springs to mind while planning a visit to Dubai, the city drenched in sun all round the year. Stretches of sandy beach along the Arabian Gulf and temperature controlled swimming pools in luxurious hotels beckon tourists to travel to Dubai on a shopping holiday. In Dubai sports is invariably linked to water activities, and the city has innumerable sports clubs and associations offering facilities. Swimming has become such a popular activity that one of the hotels is planning to offer artificially cooled sand to guests on its beach in the near future.

Of all the Dubai sports activities, camel riding, horse racing and falconry are the oldest and an integral part of Dubai’s culture. The “Ship of the desert”, this beast of burden has served the Arabians in early history, not only as a mode of communication, but also its flesh was used for food and its hide for making articles of clothing and saddlebags. With modernization, the camel, like the date palm, remain the beacons of the Arabians and the Royal Families go to great lengths to encourage the preservation of the pure pedigree of the camel by giving a lot of financial aid to trainers and camel breeders. Every year, camel races are held and cash purses are awarded to the winner. The Royal families then have the camels paraded and buy out the best ones.

Fitness Centers offering world class facilities have sprung up all over Dubai, either attached to big hotels or in specialized health clubs. If you travel to Dubai, you can avail of either stand alone centers which allow use of its facilities for either a day at a time or sometimes up to a 10 days course. Most often, depending on the time of the year and the availability, discretion is used by the management and package deals are offered for most of the Dubai sports activities.

Tennis greats Roger Federer and Andre Agassi playing a friendly match hundreds of feet high in the air! Incredible but true - they tossed a few volleys on the round helipad on top of Dubai’s luxurious Burj Al Arab hotel. Tennis is one of the major Dubai sports, which attracts people to visit Dubai. It has evolved from a fitness game of the middle and the upper classes to the highly competitive championship sports. A large number of tennis courts have sprung all over Dubai and a tourist or a businessperson who travel to Dubai are never far away from their routine fitness regimen if it includes tennis.

In 1969 the late His Highness, Sheikh Zayed, set up the Emir Stables with just 12 horses. The family utilized the available facilities and with full membership, registered with the World Arabian Horses Organization. Pursuing their passion for horse racing, they acquired over 1000 horses that are in training in different parts of the globe and started planning a racetrack. In 1986, the Nad Al-Sheba racetrack came into existence and was located 10 minutes from the City center. Over the years, the race-track was redesigned and expanded and is now 2,254 meters long with 3 chutes. The first Dubai World Cup was held on March 27th, 1996 and was ranked as one of the most prestigious Dubai Sports.

Of all the Dubai sports, football or soccer fever tends to grip the nation passionately. There is football action right through the year, except June, July and August; and a visit to Dubai can be fun-filled for a football fan. Whether watching UAE league matches or international friendly ties or playing in variation football, a travel in Dubai can be an exhilarating experience.

Today millions of tourists and holiday makers travel to Dubai exclusively for sporting activities like Golfing and Racing. Transcending political and geographical norms, golf has become a major sport for expatriates and tourists who visit Dubai. Considerable efforts have been made to convert the desert oasis into a desert miracle where sands and green lawns merge with man- made mounds and hillocks, where flora and fauna blend into the landscape and golf courses skirt fresh and salt water lakes, where flood-lit ranges and courses allow the golfer pleasurable hours of putting even after the sun has set and it is nightfall.