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Watch: Dubai athlete surfs in traditional Emirati attire, pays tribute to 'second home'

Manal travelled to two different parts of Dubai and managed to get together a full traditional attire in a short amount of time, spending approximately Dh1,500 to pull off the stunt

Published: Mon 2 Dec 2024, 4:13 PM

Updated: Mon 2 Dec 2024, 5:55 PM

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A Dubai athlete paid tribute to her “second home” by surfing in traditional Emirati clothes. Manal Rostom, an Egyptian expat, held up a UAE flag and donned a teal jalabiya, long necklace, gold head piece called tasa and a sheer sheila while wake board surfing.

“It was a token of gratitude to this country that I love so much,” she told Khaleej Times. “I have lived in this country for almost 14 years and I can say that no country receives us like the UAE does. I have lived in other countries before but the UAE is truly something special. There is no other place that I would rather be in. I shot this video from my heart.”

The video of Manal’s stunt has gone viral on social media and has been viewed over 400,000 times on various social media platforms. “Some people think it is artificial intelligence,” she chuckled. “But I can assure them that it was fully real and was a different kind of experience. I am actually bowled over by the amount of love I have received for this video. People seem to have really enjoyed it.”

Watch the video, shared by Manal on her social media account, here:

Last-minute idea

Although Manal has done several stunts before, including wearing an abaya while surfing, the idea to do this particular stunt in honour of UAE’s National Day was a last-minute idea.

“I was at the Dubai Ladies Club, where I coach, when I saw a woman wearing a similar coloured jalabiya and playing a violin,” she said. “She looked absolutely beautiful. She was performing for a national day activation and I just really fell in love with the colour of her jalabiya.

"This was at around 10 in the morning and I had booked a wake boarding session at 2.45pm. I thought it would be great to wakeboard wearing traditional Emirati clothes. I asked around as to where I could find these clothes and jewellery at such a short notice. I was directed to Global Village but I had no time to go there.”

Despite being short on time, Manal travelled to two different parts of Dubai and managed to get together a full traditional attire, including the clothes and jewellery, spending approximately Dh1,500 to pull off the stunt. “I bought the clothes from a shop in Al Quoz and the jewellery from Satwa,” she said.

According to Manal, she had not surfed for almost two months and faced some challenges while filming. “I was determined to get it right,” she said. “The plan was that I would carry the head piece under my robe and wear it while surfing, because it was not fitting on my head properly. The head piece got stuck while I was trying to wear it; eventually, I managed to pull it off. The boat driver handed me the UAE flag after I had donned all the clothes. I managed to surf a full minute or so with everything. It was all quite heavy.”

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