Al Ahli captured the kumite contest in the President's Cup Karate Championship, but teenager Najumddin Al Hadad of Shotokan Karate Sports Centre won the hearts of his club supporters by scoring a key win against the UAE's ace karateka Fakhrddine Abdul Majid Taher yesterday at the Ajman Sports Club.

"It was a great win for me," 19-year-old Syrian Najumddin told Gulf News after the final bout of the round robin contest between three clubs.

"Fakhrddine is a great fighter and UAE's medal winner in the Asian Games hence a win over him is definitely special," Najumddin said, dedicating his win to his coach and father Abdulrehman Al Hadad.

His father, however, was philosophical in the team's defeat. "It is irrelevant which team wins, we are all a one big karate family, we take part and that's important," he said.

Defending champions Al Nasr finished third as only three teams contested in the kumite contest. "This competition was postponed hence poor participation," said Sameer Al Najjar, the Technical Secretary, at the UAE Karate Federation.

He said some of the clubs could not take part, as it is mandatory to field at least one UAE national in the team of three.

"Not all clubs have nationals in their team and in some cases nationals were not available at this time of the year," he added.

The senior most UAE national karateka Mohammed Abbas too blamed wrong timing of the event for the poor participation. "This is the time of examinations in most schools therefore most are unable to take part," he said, adding that otherwise more than 10 clubs and about 60 karatekas take part in the events organised by the federation.

Mohammed Abbas said that they could not defend the title they won last year due to absence of some of his key players. The UAE skipper won all his bouts for Al Nasr but his teammates couldn't stand against superior opposition from Shotokan KSC and Al Ahli.

"We missed Ayub Lashkari, Mohammed Abdullah and Mohammed Salim Gholeita," he said.

Al Ahli were too strong for the others with two Moroccan national team members Mohammed Hassan and Mohammed bin Hassan lending strength to the team with Fakhrddine.

However, the Shotokan KSC had the satisfaction of winning the kata event in the afternoon. Sharjah took second place and Al Nasr third in the kata contest. "Sharjah didn't have team for the kumite therefore they took part only in the katas," Al Najjar said.

The federation President Saif Salim Al Shamsi presented the prizes at the end of the tournament.