Dubai: Dubai Municipality clinched the wheelchair basketball title while Dubai Police rallied to claim third spot in the futsal competition on the penultimate night of the Nad Al Sheba (NAS) Sports Tournament at the Nas Sports Complex on Tuesday.
Dubai Municipality secured a facile 63-46 win to successfully defend their title against last year’s runners-up Dubai Public Prosecution, while Dubai Police fought back from a 1-2 deficit at the break to defeat 2017 champions Al Taher 5-2 in the match for the bronze medal.
In last year’s wheelchair basketball final, Dubai Municipality rode on Germany’s Florian Mach’s 30 points for an 88-49 win against the Public Prosecution side. This year was no different as the dominant municipality men capped off a fine tournament for their third straight title in this competition.
Dubai Municipality’s Egyptian professional Hassan Al Samlawi was the main scorer for the team. “We are deserving champions. We have been the best team from the beginning of the tournament, reaching the semis by winning all our matches in the group and then putting up a really strong show in the semi-final against Dubai Police,” he said.
“The final was always going to be a big challenge for us because we wanted to crown our efforts with the title, and we are delighted that we could achieve this goal,” he added.
In the fight for third spot of the Futsal competition, it was debutants Dubai Police fighting back from 1-2 down at the break to defeat defending champions Al Taher 5-2.
The Al Attar brothers-led team took the lead in the opening minute itself when Jeferson Luis Correa put the ball at the back of the net. Al Taher then defended stoutly with goalkeeper Taher Nasser Ali making a couple of great saves until Dubai Police were finally rewarded for their sustained efforts with Alex William Da Silva finding the equaliser in the 12th minute.
Four minutes later, Al Taher were back in the lead with their Iranian captain Ali Asghar Hassan Zadeh putting Correa’s cross past the Dubai Police goalkeeper. Da Silva scored his second of the night in the fifth minute of second half to level the scores once again and then Jonathan Luiz Cesar converted from the spot in the 32nd minute to put Dubai Police in the lead for the first time on the night.
Cesar scored his second four minutes later to make it 4-2 for the cops and then, two minutes from time, he provided the cross for Ebrahim Khalid to tap in and seal a consolation bronze medal in their first year in this competition.
The NAS Sports has gone international this year with a five-a-side futsal competition taking place in Cairo and an eight-team volleyball tournament being held in Amman, Jordan.
