Dubai: The Khamis Al Mazeina team and Sport For All secured easy wins to open their campaigns on the first day of the seventh Maktoum Bin Rashid seven-a-side Football Championship at the Dubai Police Officers Club late on Monday.
Playing under the name of the late Dubai Police Chief, the Khamis Al Mazeina team rode on a fine four-goal strike from Sanad Al Beloushi while Walid Ahmad accounted for a brace as the hosts totally outplayed Barcelona 9-0. Mohammad Obaid, Qasim Abdul Redha and Ahmad Juma got one each for the winners.
“It feels great to start on a winning note. We have been practicing together for a couple of weeks now and we hope we can do better than what we did last year when we finished third. I think as a team we owe this deep sense of gratitude to our former chief,” the Khamis Al Mazeina skipper Yousuf Fikree told Gulf News.
Sport For All was the other team showing sparkling form as they demolished Blau Grana 8-1. Saud Jasem opened the scoring for Blau Grana in the fifth minute, but Sport For All came roaring back into the game as Mohammad Ali Qasim equalised from the spot, while Ahmad Al Mansouri and Saud Al Dokhi scored on the trot to go into half-time with a 3-1 lead.
Al Dokhi got a second, while Younus Murad, Sami Anbar, Ahmad Hussain and Fahad Abdul Rahman got one goal each to collect full points in their Group A encounter. However, it is the Khamis Al Mazeina team at the top of the group on a better goal difference followed by Sport For All.
In the two other games played, Bin Darwish stunned defending champions Al Joker 2-1, while Al Fursan scored towards the end of the second half to gain a 2-0 win against Al Marouf.
Earlier, Major General Mohammad Saeed Al Merri, Director of the General Department of Community Happiness at Dubai Police and Chairman of the Supreme Organising Committee formally inaugurated the tournament. He was accompanied by Major General Ali Khalfan Al Mansouri, Director of Sports Affairs at Dubai Police along with members of the Organising Committee including Tarek Al Rumaithi, Salah Al Muhairi and Nadir Rashid.
RESULTS
Khamis Al Mazeina 9 Barcelona 0; Sport For All 8 Blau Grana 1; Al Fursan 2 Al Marouf 0; Bin Darwish 2 Al Joker 1.
