Dubai: Al Diyafah High School once again displayed their dominance of inter-school football with a sterling performance in the ninth edition of their own tournament.
In the final of Al Diyafah’s boys’ tournament, they beat Our Own Al Warqa School 1-0 to win the competition for the fifth consecutive time. Joash Samuel scored the winner.
Last week, Al Diyafah’s girls had won their title for the first time.
Al Diyafah coach Aby John told Gulf News: “It is a special moment for us having won the boys’ and girls’ tournaments this year. Our victory is due to the emphasis we give to football as we have an artificial grass ground and we train on it.”
The final was a fast-paced affair, with Al Diyafah’s star player and captain Shawn Wayne D’Souza helping his team take the upper hand. Though Our Own had some long-range attempts at goal, Al Diyafah’s keeper Karthik rose to the challenge.
The lone goal came in the 10th minute of the second half, when Samuel converted a perfect pass from D’Souza. Yestin Vaz was then denied by the post as Al Diyafah pushed for a second goal.
D’Souza was judged the best player of the tournament, while Mani Haridas won the top scorer award and Abdullah of Al Salam Private School was named the most promising player. Delhi Private School, Dubai, won the Fair Play award.
Earlier, Al Diyafah reached the final by beating Al Salam School 2-0 thanks to goals from Vaz and Dharsh, and trouncing Al Ameen Private School 4-0 with two goals from Dharsh and one each from Vaz and D’Souza. In the semi-final, D’Souza scored the lone goal against Millennium School.
Our Own had a 4-0 win over DPS Dubai thanks to three goals from Mani and one from Neil, while in the semi-finals Mani scored both goals in Our Own’s 2-0 win over Al Salam.
