Sport | Other Sports
Germany steal show in Akkroball World Cup
Didi Hamann and Piotr Trochowski led Germany to victory in the first Akkroball World Cup late on Saturday by beating Spain 14-6 in the final.
- By Yasir Abbasher, Staff Reporter
- Published: 23:30 June 24, 2007
- Image Credit: Ahmed Kutty/Gulf News
- Germany's Didi Hamman (left) and Piotr Trochowski celebrate during the prize presenation ceremony after winning the Akkroball world championship. They beat Spain 14-6 in the final at the Al Jazira indoor stadium on Saturday night.
Abu Dhabi: Didi Hamann and Piotr Trochowski led Germany to victory in the first Akkroball World Cup late on Saturday by beating Spain 14-6 in the final.
Hamann and his younger colleague Trochowski mixed experience and talent to win the title after beating all their opponents and emerged winners in all their matches.
Final match
Germany played their last match in the preliminary round against Cameroon and won 20-10 after finishing the first half leading 14-4.
They went on to beat Holland 10-8 in a closely contested encounter in the semifinals and then dominated the final match against Spain winning 14-6 to grab the trophy.
Runners up, Spain, represented by Raul Tamudo and Albert Ortega, defeated England 15-14 to win their seat in the semifinals in which they beat Iran 16-9. Holland, with Patrick Kluivert and Denny Lanzaat, started the day's programme by beating Iran's Ahmad Momenzadeh and Kasr Asrar 13-12 in the first round and they faced them again in the third-place-match which they also won 15-14.
Hosts the UAE, represented by the Al Jazira youngsters, Yasir Karamah and Hamed Akbary, registered their first victory in the competition beating South Africa, represented by brothers Stan and Steve Louis, 23-16 coming from behind as they ended the first half trailing 7-10. Germany won first place and were followed respectively by Spain, Holland, Iran, England, UAE, Cameroon and South Africa.
Very grateful
Former Dutch footballer Dean Gorre, the inventor of Akkroball, was so moved at the end of the tournament as he fought back tears and thanked the stars who turned out to help achieve success in the first Akkroball World Cup.
"I see the realisation of my dream and I am really very grateful for all the players, the hosts, the sponsors and all those who helped to achieve success in this event," Gorre said in the final day at the Al Jazira indoor stadium.
Karamah and Akbary delighted with performance
The UAE's young players Yasir Karamah and Hamed Akbary expressed their pleasure and honour at playing in the first Akkroball World Cup.
"It was great honour to us to play in a competition that also featured some of the world's biggest names in football like Andy Cole, Didi Hamann and Patrick Kluivert. We are really pleased," Karamah told Gulf News.
"We are also happy with our victory over South Africa which put us in a decent place on the overall standings above Cameroon and South Africa who had two big names playing for them," Akbary added.
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