Sunday, Jun 14, 2015
Dubai: Archery and wheelchair basketball are the two new disciplines at the annual third Nad Al Sheba (NAS) Sports tournament that is scheduled to get under way at the NAS Sports Complex from the fourth day of Ramadan (June 21).
Last year’s competition drew nearly 3,000 competitors in the five disciplines of Padel Tennis, Futsal, Volleyball, a 10km road run and a 70km cycling race contesting for a total prize fund of Dh6 million.
With two new disciplines making an entry, the prize fund has been hiked by two million to Dh8 million this year with the possible number of entries going up by at least 1,000.
In addition to the two new events, there will be competitions in Futsal, Volleyball, 10kms road running, 70kms cycling race and Padel Tennis. The Wheelchair Basketball and Archery competitions will be held at the Dubai Club for Special Needs, Al Ghusais, while the rest of the events will take place at the state-of-the-art Nad Al Sheba Sports Complex.
Details of the competitions were disclosed at a press conference that was attended by Tournament Director Hassan Al Mazrouei, Deputy Tournament Director Majid Al Abbar, Ahmad Al Falasi, CEO, Emaar Properties, the platinum sponsors this year and Technical Director Nasser Al Rahman.
Fuhood Zabeel, 2014 champions, will start the defence of their crown in the futsal competition from Group A, while runners-up Al Jokar will aim to go one step better from Group B.
“This competition has been a huge success due to the constant support of Shaikh Hamdan Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of Dubai Sports Council. There are reasons why we have included archery and wheelchair basketball this year. First there is the social dimension of helping our citizens compete on an identical platform, while also trying to tap in talent in an Olympic sport like Archery where hopefully we can excel on the international stage in the future,” Al Mazrouei told Gulf News.
“As usual, we will invite some of the best names in the world of futsal and volleyball and spectators are more than welcome to watch them in action,” he added.
The demand for entries was so huge this year that a qualifying tournament was organised in May to select the 12 best teams who joined the four semi-finalists from last year. Further details of the competitions will be available on the official website www.nasst.ae.
By Alaric Gomes Senior Reporter
Gulf News 2015. All rights reserved.
