• Tug-of-War Championship scheduled to kick off with huge participation from Tuesday night 

DUBAI: There was no stopping Al Nasr Club as shuttlers from the club dominated and walked away with nearly all honours in seven of the 13 categories contested at the 12th Nad Al Sheba Sports Tournament at the Nad Al Sheba Sports Complex, late on Sunday.

Players from Al Nasr Club made a clean sweep of the top three positions in the U15 girls and boys singles, mixed doubles, women’s doubles, women’s and men’s singles and mixed open doubles. The only exception came in the men’s doubles where the pairing of Mohammed Salem Mohammed Al Ameri and Sanad Nasser Hassan Omar Bin Amro from the Abu Dhabi Racquet Club finished with the bronze medal ahead of Al Nasr’s Hassan Al Ali and Rashid Tariq.

The ‘Nad Al Sheba Sports Tournament’ - the largest sporting event of its kind, launched and sponsored by His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Defence, and Chairman of the Dubai Executive Council - is held annually during the holy month of Ramadan under the directives of His Highness Sheikh Mansoor bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Chairman of the Dubai Sports Council, under the slogan ‘Unlimited Capabilities’.

The winners were crowned by Noura Al Jasmi, President of the UAE Badminton Federation, Hassan Al Mazrouei, Director of the Nad Al Sheba Sports Tournament, Adel Al Bannai, Head of the Technical Committee of the Tournament and Abdul Moneim Amin Shams El Din, Director of the Chairman’s Office and CEO of Al Tadawi Healthcare Group, one of the tournament’s supporting partners.

Her Excellency Noura Al Jasmi, President of the UAE Badminton Federation, confirmed that the tournament achieved great success with the wide participation of national players, both male and female, as well as players of different nationalities and ages in the open categories.

“We are indeed proud to be part of the Nad Al Sheba Sports Tournament, which was launched and sponsored by His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence. It is the largest community sporting event and a leading platform to stimulate sports activity among all segments of society during the holy month of Ramadan. It also contributes to increasing the spread of various sports, discovering promising sports talents, and enhancing the values of interaction and positive competition. We are happy to participate in this wonderful annual event, and we are even happier with the wide participation of national players in various categories,” Noura Al Jasmi remarked.

“The Federation’s participation in this tournament comes within the framework of the ‘Road to Los Angeles 2028’ initiative launched by the UAE Badminton Federation, with the aim of preparing and developing Emirati badminton players with Olympic potential, and qualifying a number of male and female players to participate at the 2028 Los Angeles Games. It also falls within the federation’s strategic objectives aimed at spreading the game, and diversifying competitions between singles, doubles and mixed, which contributes to achieving harmony between players and enhancing their skills. This tournament represents a real opportunity to promote badminton in the UAE and raise the level of local players,” she added.

Al Nasr Club ended the night with a haul of 20 medals in various categories. Al Nasr Club began their medal haul in the U15 Emirati girls’ singles with Hayat Khalifa Abdul Rahman securing the top spot ahead of clubmate Dana Ahmed in second place, and Lujain Abu Salem in third place.

In the U15 Emirati boy’s singles, Al Nasr Club was once again dominant with Mayed Tariq claiming gold ahead of Sultan Al Hamed and Mohammed Al Ali, while fellow clubmate Hamdan Tariq ended in fourth place.

Al Nasr Club’s Abdulaziz Mohammed Yahya and Ghadir Al Dhaheri won first place in the Emirati mixed doubles, followed by Abdulrahman Fouad Ayoun and Maryam Al Hamed in second, while Mohammed Ali Al Ali and Hayat Khalifa Abdulrahman stood third, leaving Fares Al Bastaki and Mahra Al Bastaki in fourth place.

In the Emirati women’s doubles, Al Nasr Club players Futaim Mohammed Al Dahoori and Farah Ibrahim Al Haji won gold followed by teammates Samera Al Blooshi and Maryam Al Hamed in second, Lujain Abu Salem and Dana Ahmed in third and Hind Abdullah and Maryam Al Blooshi followed in fourth place.

In the Emirati men’s doubles, it was Al Nasr all the way once again with Nasser Mirza Al Sayegh and Mohammed Ali Falmarzi winning gold, followed by Sultan Al Hamed and Mayed Tariq in second, while Mohammed Salem Mohammed Al Ameri and Sanad Nasser Hassan Omar Bin Amro from Abu Dhabi Racquet Club finishing in third place, ahead of Al Nasr Club’s Hassan Al Ali and Rashid Tariq.

Players from Al Nasr Club also dominated in the women’s and men’s singles with Ghadeer Al Tahri winning top spot ahead of Farah Ibrahim Al Hajji and Futaim Mohammed Al Dahoori in third place.

Abdulaziz Mohammed Yahya clinched first place while leading another clean sweep for Al Nasr Club while winning the men’s singles, ahead of Mohammed Ali Falamarzi and Nasser Mirza Al Sayegh.

Open Categories

Competition was stiff in the open categories, with Raden Bagas and Zainaba Reem Siraj from Battledore Sports Academy combining to win the mixed doubles category ahead of Andi Hamza Marwan and Nurani Ratu Azzahra from Aeroplane UBL Sports Academy/Abu Dhabi Racquet Club and Hari Mas Veda Arvandya and Nanda Sekar Utari from Prime Star Sports Academy/We Met in third place.

Nurani Ratu Azzahra and Aisyah Nuraini from Abu Dhabi Racquet Club and A Raed Sports did well to go one better and win the women’s doubles beating Berlian Sudarajat and Nanda Sekar Utari from Fortuna Sport Academy and We Met, respectively, leaving Nivedha Srinivasan and Anju Thomas from Masters Badminton Academy, in third.

It was a fight between two pairs from NVBA Abu Dhabi in the men’s doubles open with Rohit Jayakumar and Gopinath Venkateshwara winning gold ahead of clubmates Dev Ayyappan and Saravanan Kannan, leaving Raden Bagas and Andi Hamzah Marwan in third.

Berlian Sudrajat of Fortuna Sport Academy and Dev Vishnu of NVBA Abu Dhabi clinched the women’s and men’s singles titles. Sudrajat beat Vaidehi Kalidasan of Battledore Sports Academy, while Universal Sports Abu Dhabi player Sreeyuktha Sreejith Parol took the bronze.

There was no denying Dev Vishnu of the men’s singles title as he finished ahead of Battledore Sports Academy’s Ahmad Affandi and the Prime Star Sports’s duo of Vishal Vasudevan and Naveen RM.

In the Special Olympics Unified Doubles for People of Determination, it was Savarnika Jayakrishnan and Jeremy Perez from the Developing Child Centre all the way as the combination of Maria Garcia Jamora and Rolando De Peoro II came in second, while Osman Adil Abbas and Sinan Asif from SOSHS came in third place.

Tug-of-War starts today

Meanwhile, the tug-of-war championship competitions will start from Tuesday evening (March 11) on the sand court situated at the Nad Al Sheba Sports Complex.

The championships – being held in three different categories - will commence with the event for Government Departments and Institutions with Dubai Police meeting Ras Al Khaimah Civil Defence, while the Dubai Media Corporation will contest against the National Guards in Group One.

In Group Two, the Dubai State Security team will meet the Land Forces team, while the Ministry of Defence will take on the Ministry of Education.

In the junior category, the Sharjah Police Academy team will meet the A25 team and the Ahmed Bin Rashid School will take on B Ninjaz in the Group tussles, while the Sharjah Self-Defence Club will meet the IFBB Sports Academy team, while the Sharjah Sports Council will be up against Desert Storm in Group Two.

In the Community category, Dulsco Group will meet Transguard Group and Al Musalmani will meet IFBB Sports Academy in Group 1, while Al Jawarih will play against EFS Champions and Agnes will meet Al Habtoor Group in Group 2.

In Group 3, Al Asifa will be up against Dutco Group and Al Kawaser will meet Al Sahel Company, while Truss General Trading will take on AJ and Kerala Kings will meet Fighters in Group 4.