Dubai: Indian High School (IHS) won four out of six categories in the Shuttle Time Schools Championship Finals at Salah Addin Sports Hall last week.
In the girls’ division, IHS won the Under-15s and Under-17s categories, defeating Gems Our Own English High School 3-0 in both divisions, before Gems Our Own English High School beat Dubai Gems Private School 2-1 in the Under-13s.
And in the boys’ division IHS also won the Under-15s and Under-17s, beating Gems Modern Academy 3-0 in the Under-15s and Gems Our Own Indian High School 2-1 in the Under-17s. However, IHS boys denied a clean sweep losing 2-1 to Gems Our Own High School Al Warqa’a in the Under-13s.
Teams qualified for the Schools Championship Finals after finishing in the top two in each age group in the girls’ and boys’ championships on April 29 and May 6, which saw 52 teams from 18 schools compete in Under-13, Under-15 and Under-17 age groups.
A further 70 players took part in the Emirati Challenge which took place concurrently.
In the Emirati girls’ challenge, the Al Ebdaa Model School took out first and second places in two categories. Ayah Mohammad defeated Hamda Ahmad to win the Under-11 division and Shama Abdullah beat Aya Mohammad in the Under-13 division. In the Under-15 division Dubai International School’s Sarah Al Jalaf claimed first place, defeating Al Ebdaa Model School’s Metha Abdullah.
In the boys’ divisions it was a battle between the Dubai National School and the Dubai International School. Dubai National School teammates faced each other in the Under-15 division, with Saeed Omar defeating Othman Omar. In the Under-13 division Dubai International School took the honours with Nasser Merza defeating Dubai National School’s Ali Abdullah. In the Under-11 division the tables were turned, with Dubai National School’s Mansour Mohammad defeating Dubai International School’s Hadi Mohammad for the title.
The competition was organised in conjunction with Dubai Sports Council and is part of Shuttle Time Dubai’s grass roots development programme, which is aimed at increasing participation and leaving a legacy from Dubai’s four-year hosting of the Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Superseries Finals, which was first held in 2014.
The next event in the Shuttle Time calendar is the Shuttle Time Club Championships to be held at Dubai Sports World in July and August.
