Nad Al Sheba: Safi leads Moroccan 1-2 on closing night of NAS Sports Tournament

Dubai: Moroccans Othmane Safi and Soufiane Dardour continued their country’s domination of NAS Run with a one-two in the 5K Open race for men on Thursday night as the curtains came down on the eighth season of the Nad Al Sheba Sports Tournament.

Saeed Hareb, Secretary General of Dubai Sports Council and Chairman of the Tournament Organising Committee, was present at Meydan on the night to honour the winners.

Anouar El Ghouz had led a Moroccan 1-2-3 in the 10km Open run for men on Wednesday night, and 24 hours later Safi and Dardour confirmed Moroccan’s domination of the men’s Open race with Safi clocking a blazing time of 15:12.64 in the 5K. Dardour was second in 15:24.16, while Great Britain’s Lee Garrett took the bronze in 15:27.68.

In the 5K Open for women, Poland’s Emilia Skolubowicz blitzed through the course to finish with a time of 18:47.80, which was 66 seconds quicker than Australian Jasmine Grey’s silver-winning time, while Slovenia’s Iveta Stryalova took third.

In the Amateur Emirati categories, Hamad Al Rouly bagged gold with a time of 16:48.13 in the men’s race, finishing ahead of Abdalla Al Naqbi and Faris Al Zaabi. Mariam Al Shamsi took the crown in the women’s race with a time 22:07.46, while Shahad Budebs was second. The winners each took home Dh10,000, while the runners-up earned Dh7,000. The third places won Dh5,000 each.

Organised by Dubai Sports Council, the NAS Sports Tournament has been one of the top sporting attractions during Ramadan since 2013, and the eighth season of the tournament was organised in compliance with all COVID-19 precautionary measures and protocols.