UAE chess team off to a winning start

The UAE men's and women's teams opened their campaign with wins in the chess competition at the 10th Pan Arab Games here.

The men's team got the better of Palestine 3.5-0.5, while the women overcame the team from Libya 2-1.

"This is the sort of start we had been looking forward to at this competition," said Mohammad Kajoor Al Nuaimi, the head of the UAE chess delegation to these Games.

"We have made the right start, and we hope to carry on with this form as the competition progresses," he added.

In the women's competition against Libya, Noora Mohammad Saleh gave the UAE a perfect start with an outright win against her opponent.

Fatima Mohammad Ahmad Hassan lost her encounter, but Mariam Mansour Mohammad ensured the UAE advanced to the next stage of the contest with an outright victory against her opponent.

The women's team has been drawn to play against Egypt in the next round.

The men's team was more convincing in their 3.5-0.5 victory against the Palestinian side.

Yahya Mohammad Saleh opened the scoring for the UAE with a clear win, while Jasem Abdul Rahman Saleh made it 2-0 in favour of the UAE.

Mohammad Hussain Al Marzouki put the issue beyond doubt despite Abdullah Hassan being forced to a draw. The UAE men will now play against Egypt in the second round of the team competition.

The UAE rests a lot of hope on bagging a few more medals in the chess competition.

At the last Pan Arab Games held in Jordan in 1999, the UAE had bagged eight medals in chess, including two golds.

"We want to go better than what we've achieved at the last Games," Al Nuaimi stated.

"We've made the start, now we have to ensure we keep our focus and concentration for the next few days," he added.

"Our players have put in a lot of hard work and this will definitely not go unrewarded."

The UAE duo of Rashid Faraj and Khalid Khalfan is banking heavily on the hard work they have put in during recent training as they commence their competition today.

"We don't have the experience or the exposure at any level of competition to stand up to these other countries," admitted the UAE manager, Abdullah Surour. "But we do know that we've put in a lot of hard work over the past one month, and hopefully, this should play a big role in our performance here," he added.

The draws were held late last night and Faraj has been drawn to fight Mohammad Ali Al Rawahe of Tunisia in the under 58kg category, while Khalfan will take on Mahmoud Nableon of Egypt in the under 72kg category today.

Meanwhile, Egypt is leading the overall medals tally after four days of competitions.

Yesterday, three medals were decided all of them in weightlifting and Egypt managed to add one gold to take their overall tally of 23 golds.