A triumphant Dubai Chess and Cultural Club team returned yesterday from Jordan after being crowned champions of the Champions Cup in Amman, late on Thursday.
The triumphant team was received at the Dubai International Airport by the entire board of the Dubai Chess and Cultural Club led by Ebrahim Al Bannai, the chairman of the club.
"This is a great achievement by our young team," Al Bannai told reporters at the airport.
"This certainly ranks as one of the major achievements of our club for a long time," he added.
Al Bannai dedicated the victory to Shaikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai and the Minister of Finance and Industry.
"Without his support we would not have been able to achieve this feat."
The chairman further observed that their triumph proved that UAE sportsmen were capable of excelling in individual sports on the international stage.
The Dubai Chess and Cultural Club team comprised of Othman Moussa, Suhail Tayyeb, brothers Najeeb and Nabeel Saleh and foreign player, Michael Kobalia from Russia.
According to the format of the competition, each team is allowed to field a foreign player and the Dubai team had opted for Kobalia following his recent good form in UAE competitions.
Elmar Magerramov was the coach of the DCCC squad.
The competition was held from September 1-9 in Jordan. As many as 10 teams from nine countries took part, with hosts Jordan fielding two sides.
The format of the competition was an all-player league system with teams playing nine rounds.
"This was a true team effort from our boys," coach Magerramov said after his arrival at the airport.
"It was a tough competition throughout and I must compliment our team for giving off their best under very trying circumstances," the coach stated.
The Dubai team victory was cemented on the final day of the competition on Thursday following their emphatic 4-0 victory against Syria.
"That win was crucial for us as it gave us the points we needed to be the best club in the Arab world. This victory made a huge difference to our total and we were comfortably ahead of the rest," Magerramov said.
That victory against Syria on Thursday gave the Dubai team a total score of 29 points for the top spot in the contest.
"Prior to that we were facing tough competition from the Egyptian and Jordanian teams," the DCCC coach stated.
Egypt had to stay in second place with 27 points from a possible 36, while hosts Jordan were placed third with 26.5 points. Yemen came in fourth with 24.5 points.
