UAE’s Balooshi targets podium at Dubai International Baja rally

Gulf Today, Staff Reporter

Emirati motocross champion and Red Bull athlete Mohammed Balooshi is participating in the Dubai International Baja, which marks the season finale for the 2022 FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Bajas and the 2022 FIM BAJAS World Cup, and aims to end the race on a winning note.

Balooshi is participating in the motorcycle category on a KTM bike, and has accumulated 50 points so far.

The titles of the participating categories will be decided in the final round, hosted by Dubai, where the Emirati champion hopes to dominate his category in his homeland.

Balooshi leads the rankings by a single point over two of his competitors in this tournament, Portugal's Fabio Magalhaes and Poland's Konrad Dabrowski.

Balooshi has said that motorcycle sports have "undergone significant adjustments" since the COVID-19 pandemic. Before, the International Motorcycle Federation required a number of different Baja tours in Europe and the Middle East, but now conditions have changed and the winner of the final two rounds was selected. But the sport is still as interesting as it has always been."

Speaking of his preferred sport, Balooshi added: "Motorcycling has become one of the sports that receives remarkable attention from the wise leadership of the UAE, as well as the interest of a number of countries in the Arab world, especially since the nature of the landscape of these countries is rich in desert and mountainous areas that are suitable for hosting international rallies."

Balooshi is one of the pioneers of motocross racing in the UAE and has won numerous races all over the world. His most remarkable victory was earning first place in the 2018 FIM Bajas World Cup in the Spanish town of Baja. He also won the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Creative Sports Award.

Balooshi owns the MX Academy, the biggest motocross and enduro school in the area, and has won the MX Middle East title multiple times.