Dubai: The teacher versus the student — and only one could be the winner. Abu Dhabi-based English teacher Zlatko Bajric secured a 12-6 win over University of Sharjah (UOS) engineering student Mamadou Ndiaye to earn the right to represent the UAE at the Red Bull King of the Rock world finals to be held at the Alcatraz prison in San Francisco, US, later this summer.
“It’s an incredible feeling. Right now, I am so low on energy but feeling so high emotionally,” the 30-year-old Bajric told Gulf News after his one-on-one basketball win over his 20-year-old opponent from Senegal at Dubai Mall on Thursday night.
“Right now I am just so happy to come through this tough challenge. I put in a lot of hard practice and finally all this has come together with this win.”
Serbian Bajric, a former professional with Italian club Perugia, sunk a triple and a basket for an early 5-0 lead. But the younger Ndiaye never gave up until the very end.
“I know it’s a bit disappointing to come so close to the title. Right now, I am just so exhausted. But I will put this loss behind me and look ahead,” he said.
Bajric’s preparations are to be lauded. In addition to running between 12 to 15km at least four times a week, the Serbian trains twice every day, concentrating on his shooting from outside the circle.
The point guard, now a resident of Canada, also had the height disadvantage. “I wanted to prove that height can never be a disadvantage and I’ve done that with this win.
“The only way anyone could win was to kill me. I had put in all the hard work and it paid off,” he said.
Bajric next heads to Canada for his summer break, but he will continue with his preparations for the King of the Rock finals. “It’s going to be a long haul, but I will be ready to face the best in the world at the end of September,” he said.
In the Dubai semi-finals, Bajric beat Rey Odhiambo of Kenya 10-7, while Ndiaye got the better of Al Ahli player Qais Omar Al Shabibi 16-5 in a re-match of the Sharjah qualifiers earlier this month.
A total of 192 players participated in the three qualifiers that were held in Sharjah, Abu Dhabi and Dubai, with the best 32 making it to the final held at the ice rink at Dubai Mail.
