The Emirate cricketers once again started their long outstanding feud with the Emirates Cricket Board (ECB), in the face of the Asian Games in China, to be held in the latter half of this year.

In a press conference, Emirati cricket club and the UAE Nationals voiced their concern and brought out their frustrations.

The regulations restricts only the pass port holders to represent their country in Guangzhou in November.

This leaves only Salman Farooq, off-spinner, of the present UAE national squad, and no one else, to be eligible to participate. Expressing concern Al Bayan said, "The UAE nationals want to control themselves."

The games shall be participated by strong countries like India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, against whom the Emiratis look too weak.

Dilawar Mani, the Chief Executive of the Emirates Cricket Board, brought out the safety of his players as a face saving in the games.

Face saving is justified, as UAE, when it participated in the World Cup in 1996, its captain, Sultan Zarawani, got hit in the head from the bowling of the South African fast bowler, Allan Donald.

In the World Cup, Zarawani had refused to wear the helmet. This he often narrates, but he is not there to play the game any more and leaves only one Emirati in the game.

Recently UAE could not participate in the Under 16 tournament as it did not have three passport holders in the team.

Often, the lack of interest in the game by the nationals has been reasoned by the Administrators, for not able to participate in various cricket tournaments. At the same time challenges of adopting the culture of others, the game of cricket, should also be understood.