Dubai: Indian High School (IHS) won all but one age category of badminton’s Shuttle Time Dubai Schools Championship finals at the India Club in Oud Mehta on Friday.
IHS took the boys’ under-12, 14 and 16 categories and girls’ under-14 and 16 honours, while Dubai Gem Private School secured the girls’ under-12 title.
Meanwhile, Al Ebdaa Model School won all three divisions of the girls’ Emirati Challenge and Dubai National School won two of the three boys’ honours, securing the under-14 and 16 divisions after Dubai International School had won the under-12s.
The finalists qualified after finishing top two in each age group of the boys’ and girls’ Schools Championship preliminaries held earlier this month. They were joined in the finals by the top-ranked players in the Emirati Challenge preliminaries, which was held concurrently.
Over 440 players from 30 schools participated across three rounds of the championship and organisers noticed improvement in play thanks to over 180 coaches being trained up throughout the region this year.
The Schools Championship is part of the Shuttle Time Dubai grassroots development programme, which is aimed at increasing local participation to ensure Dubai’s four-year hosting of the World Superseries Finals from 2014-2017 has a legacy.
