Dubai: Former multiple world featherweight boxing champion ‘Prince’ Naseem Hamed was impressed with what he saw during a visit to the NAS Sports Tournament late on Thursday.
A Briton of Yemeni origin, he hung up his gloves in 2002 after a career that saw him being hailed “as the most talented fighter to ever live” by some in the media.
Prince Naseem was present at the second leg of the NAS Night Challenge for individuals, where more than 1,250 participants — including 120 Pro Males and 41 Pro Females, of 49 different nationalities — took on the 14-obstacle, 4.2km course.
Wearing a kandoora and greeting everyone in the Holy Month of Ramadan, Prince Naseem, who also watched matches of the NAS Futsal Championship, said he was overawed with the facilities at NAS.
“It’s amazing to be here. I love the fact that they have got all these sports, all of these activities and all this excitement. It brings me back to being a world champion and feeling the serious competition going on where everybody wants to win,” Prince Naseem said.
“It’s nice to see the sporting facilities put down by Shaikh Hamdan Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai. For me, it is amazing to be here, to be welcomed here and to visit Nad Al Sheba for the first time. I have always wanted to come to NAS Sports. I see NAS is a short abbreviation for my name, Naseem. So I like that … I like it a lot,” he added.
Meanwhile, Mohammad Mira and Nedene Cahill picked up the top honours in the pro male and female categories of the Nas Challenge. Mira finished with a top time of 22.54 minutes, well clear of Russia’s Sergei Perelygin (23.26) and the UAE’s Obaid Al Nuaimi (24:24).
In the pro female category, South African Cahill lay the bar high with a time of 34.02 minutes leaving the UAE’s Latifa Essarokh in second with a time of 35.53 minutes, while Croatia’s Tea Faber (37:11) came in third.
