More than 8,600 runners enlist for road run of 13th Nad Al Sheba Sports Tournament on Friday

A grand total of 8,682 runners of various ages and nationalities are confirmed for participation in the road running race to be held as part of the 13th edition of the Nad Al Sheba Sports Tournament, on Friday evening.

Touted as the premier sporting event during the holy month of Ramadan, the annual tournament is held under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence, and under the guidance of His Highness Sheikh Mansoor bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Chairman of the Dubai Sports Council under the slogan and theme ‘Unlimited Capabilities’.

The running competitions in various age groups are scheduled to begin at 9.45 pm today (Friday, February 27), and will get under way with the 5km men’s race, followed by the women’s race at 9.48 pm.

The 5km youth race will start at 9.53 pm, followed by the junior race at 9.58 pm. The 10km men’s race will begin at 10.30 pm, followed by the women’s race at 10.35 pm. The starting and end points will be at the Meydan Racecourse.

The races will be run in groups with appropriate intervals between them. All runners are required to be at the starting point before 9.15 pm, as all roads leading to the starting point and venue will be closed after that time.

Organisers have broken up the race in categories with the 10km race in the Open category (for men) thrown open to all members of the community, including citizens, residents and GCC nationals aged 16 and above (those born in 2010 or earlier). There is also an Open category (for women) with the same conditions for female citizens, residents and GCC nationals.

The 5km race includes a category for Emirati men and a category for Emirati women, open only to citizens aged 15 and above (those born in 2011 or earlier). Additionally, there are Open categories for men and Open categories for residents and GCC nationals of the same age, as well as categories for men aged 50 and above (those born in 1976 or earlier) and women aged 48 and above (those born in 1978 or earlier).

In the 5km junior race, participation is open to citizens and residents in the Open/Youth boys and girls categories for ages 13-14 (those born in 2012 and 2013), as well as the Open/Junior boys and girls categories for ages 11-12 (those born in 2014 and 2015).

Exciting Wheelchair Basketball

Meanwhile, the Wheelchair Basketball Championship being held at the Dubai Club for People of Determination in Al Ghusais, continued with fierce competition among the participating teams.

In Group A, Dubai Courts secured a 43-31 victory over Dubai Corporation for Ambulance Services, while the Community Development Authority triumphed 36-20 over Swank Real Estate Development.

In Group B, Dubai Municipality continued its strong performance with an emphatic 55-12 win over the Department of Finance, while Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) secured an important hard-fought 42-35 win against the Federal Authority for Identity and Citizenship (FAIC).

Following this round of matches, Dubai Courts lead Group A, while Dubai Municipality are at the top of the standings in Group B.

The fourth day of matches will continue with four matches, on Friday, wherein Dubai Police General Headquarters will face Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) at 9.30 am, followed by the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) taking on the Community Development Authority (CDA) at 10.20 am.

The Department of Finance will then be up against the Federal Authority for Identity and Citizenship at 11.10 am, followed by the Dubai Courts taking on Swank Real Estate Development at 12 noon.

UAE leads padel teams

The UAE national team continued its fine form while topping its group in the Nad Al Sheba Padel Championship. In their third match, the home team set aside Egypt 3-0. Despite the result, both teams qualified for the semi-finals, where they will be joined by Kuwait following their 2-1 result against Iran, and Morocco, who defeated Saudi Arabia 3-0, while both Bahrain and Lebanon become out despite the Bahrain’s result 2-1 against Lebanon.

Results: UAE bt Egypt 3-0: Fares Al Janahi/I?igo Khofri bt Ali Zaghloul/Sherif Makhlouf 6-2, 6-2; Majed Al Janahi/Ignacio Villarino bt Mohamed Al Jarhi/Mohamed Abou El Qassem 6-3, 6-3; Francisco Jurado/Abdullah Al Abdullah bt Omar Makhlouf/Mohamed Al Munisi 6-3, 6-0.

Kuwait bt Iran 2-1: Bader Al Saeed/Hamoud Al Junaidel bt Arya Roghani/Ali Taghizadeh 6-2, 6-2; Hossein Shams/Abdullah Al Awadhi bt Sajjad Zarean/Iman Hosseini 7-6, 6-2; Arsham Moradi/Arya Jafar bt Hashem Al Mazaidi/Suleiman Qabazard 6-4, 6-7, 3-6.

Bahrain bt Lebanon 2-1: Najib Fakih/Freddy Stephan bt Rashid Al Obaidi/Issa Al Qattan 3-6, 6-4, 7-6; Ali Dawani/Hussein Dawani bt Tamim Hallak/Alex Bustani 6-4, 6-1; Hassan Al Qattan/Youssef Qaed bt Jad Salibi/Anthony Hijazi 7-6, 6-7, 7-6.

Morocco bt Saudi Arabia 3-0: Mohamed Alami/Reda Fartat bt Marwan Al Malham/Abdullah Al Abdullah 6-2, 6-4; Reda Al Omrani/Mahdi Ziadi bt Faisal Al Ribdi/Ali Al Buraih 6-0, 6-4; Rabie Shaki/Khalil Outaleb bt Abdullah Al Azzam/Rakan Al Shahrani 6-1, 6-4.

Excitement continues

Meanwhile, the excitement will continue over the next few days of the 13th Nad Al Sheba Sports Tournament.

The 3x3 basketball will progress with the preliminary round matches in Al Ghusais and the third place play-off and final has been scheduled to be held at the indoor hall of Nad Al Sheba Sports Complex on March 4.

The Tug-of-War preliminary rounds will commence on March 1 and run on till the final March 6. The ever-popular volleyball competition will start on February 26 with participation from teams and players from major international clubs. The semi-finals have been slated for March 5, the third-placed match on March 6, while the tournament will conclude with the final on March 7.