• Algerian Hamza Yassine retains cycling title at exciting road cycling on Meydan streets

• Al Ameed knock off defending champions Zabeel in NAS volleyball

• Dubai Municipality to take on Dubai Corporation for Ambulance Services in Wheelchair Basketball final 

DUBAI: Sheikh Saeed bin Maktoum bin Juma Al Maktoum, Chairman of the UAE Padel Federation, crowned the winners of the International Padel Federation Junior Championship, held at the indoor Padel hall of Nad Al Sheba Sports Complex.

The competition for juniors was part of the 12th edition of the Nad Al Sheba Sports Tournament, the largest sporting event of its kind that was 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.

The Nad Al Sheba Tournament is held annually during the holy month of Ramadan at Nad Al Sheba Sports Complex, under the directives of His Highness Sheikh Mansoor bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Chairman of the Dubai Sports Council, under the slogan ‘Limitless Abilities’.

Hassan Al Mazrouei, Tournament Director and Salem Dahmani, Senior Marketing Manager at Dubai Duty Free, were also present during the crowning of winners after the final.

Ahmed Al Hashemi teamed up with Aaron Rubio to win the under-18 final against the pairing of Antonio Palma and Alessandro Perrotta, while the same pair made it a rare double while finishing at the top of the pile in the under-16 competition too with a win against Ramtin Rafiei Borozhni and Ali Taghizadeh Feji.

The under-14 title went to Hamdan Al Hashemi and Mario Brocal Aviles following their outright win against Sepehr Mehrbakhsh and Ramtin Rafieibozhni.

Inspiring cycling from Yassine

Meanwhile, Algerian cyclist Hamza Yassine proved his credentials as he retained his title in the Men’s Open 74-km cycling race.

he won last year. The Algerian was unstoppable as he won first place after completing the distance in 1 hour, 33.09 minutes to finish a fraction of a second ahead of Emiratis Abdullah Jassim Al Ali and Ahmed Al Mansouri.

In the senior citizens and residents category for men, Great Britain’s Simon Cox won first place after completing the 37-km distance in 51:11 minutes. Algerian Khalil Haddad came in second (51:14 mins), while fellow Algerian Noureddine Houchine finished third for the second year in-a-row with a time of 52:52 minutes.

In the People of Determination Road Bicycle Category (C) held over a distance of 18 kms, it was Emirati Abdullah Salem Al Balushi all the way in a time of 25:19 minutes, followed by Emirati Ahmed Mohammed Saif Al Badawi (25:24 mins), while Saudi Arabia’s Adi Hamdan Al Sharari came in third in 26:35 minutes.

In the People of Determination Handcycle Category (H) category, Omani Sami Al Sulaimi won the top spot with a time of 31:50 minutes, followed by Emirati Saeed Rashid Juma Al Dhaheri (31:50 mins), and Emirati Theban Salem Al Muhairi in third (36:22 mins).

In the Blind People of Determination B&T category, Saudi Arabia’s Abdullah Al Malawi reigned supreme with a time of 26:34 minutes, followed by Emirati Bader Abdulaziz (33:43 mins), and Emirati Ahmed Abdullah Al Shamsi in third (35:43 mins).

Zabeel bids farewell in volleyball

Defending champions Zabeel were knocked out of the volleyball competition after going down in five sets to Al Ameed in a thrilling and technically balanced match.

Needing to log an outright win, Zabeel fell short towards the end while going down 2-3 against Al Ameed before a packed and festive indoor hall at the Nad Al Sheba Sports Complex.

In a battle that went to the wire, Al Ameed endorsed their title credentials while winning 21-25, 25-23, 20-25, 25-23 and 16-14 in a match that could have gone either way.

The match began with Zabeel dominating the first set as they went on to clinch it easily, 25-21. But, Al Ameed regrouped well taking the second set, 25-23. In the third, and with Zabeel opposite Nathan Thimotee Feral finding his rhythm along with middle blocker Iliya Petkovic, Zabeel managed to hang in and nudge ahead 25-20.

However, Al Ameed had some other plans on the night before a large appreciative audience as they won the fourth set 25-23 to push the game into the deciding fifth set that they went on to win 16-14 and book their place in the semi-finals ahead of the defending champions.

Al Ameed’s Tommaso Stefani, who topscored for his team with 16 points, was rightly adjudged the man of the match.

Al Tadawi 1 top the group

Al Tadawi 1, meanwhile, continued their strong showing in this competition while topping Group One with an all-perfect record following their 3-1 victory against cellar-placed HFH.

Except for a brief instant when they allowed the second set to slip away, Al Tadawi 1 were always in control while winning 25-12, 19-25, 25-22 and 25-16 to top the group with nine points. The standout player for the match was Al Tadawi 1’s Maksim Sapozhkov with a game high 28 points, assisted by teammate Nikita Zudin’s 14 points.

Dubai Municipality to face Ambulance in final

Wheelchair basketball fans are anticipating an exciting final on Wednesday evening (March 19) when Dubai Municipality takes on Dubai Corporation for Ambulance Services.

After nine days of action at the Dubai Club for Special Needs in Al Ghusais, the Wheelchair Basketball will conclude with the final at the main hall of the Nad Al Sheba Sports Complex, late on Wednesday.

The highly-anticipated summit clash will see hot favourites Dubai Municipality match their might against the team representing the Dubai Corporation for Ambulance Services,.

Dubai Municipality qualified for the final after a thrilling 29-27 victory over defending champions Dubai Police in a tightly-contested semi-final, while Dubai Corporation for Ambulance Services powered their way to a dominant 34-26 win against Sharjah Police.