Team F3 Clinch NAS Volleyball Title

Team F3 defeated their stablemates F3 ‘A’ 3-2 in a thriller on Thursday night to win the volleyball crown in the 6th Nad Al Sheba Sports Tournament

DUBAI (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 25th May, 2018 ) Team F3 defeated their stablemates F3 ‘A’ 3-2 in a thriller on Thursday night to win the volleyball crown in the 6^th Nad Al Sheba sports Tournament.

Playing in front of packed stands at the Nad Al Sheba Sports Complex, F3 were slow to start, dropping the first set but then recovered to win the next two to put themselves in the driving seat. F3 ‘A’ fought back to force the match into a decider, but F3 prevailed for a thrilling 16-25, 25-23, 25-21, 22-25, 15-13 win.

Team F3 also picked up three of the six individual awards, with their Bahraini import Mohammed Yaqoob winning the Best Server title and Mohammed Sultan being named Best Setter, while Amer Gulam was voted the Best All-round Player.

“This award is a great honour, but credit for this belongs to every member of the team,” said Gulam. “We fought as a unit, even when the chips where down, and eventually prevailed over a very tough opponent.

“It was a really tough match and you could not predict a winner until the final point. So credit to F3 ‘A’ as well for the way they fought until the final point. I would like to believe that there were no losing team in this final. Both teams played at a really high level and kept the fans entertained, but unfortunately for our brothers in F3 ‘A’, there has to be a winning team in the end and a loser. That is sport.

“The high technical level of all the teams in this tournament confirms that NAS Volleyball is a much stronger competition than the local league. I am sure this tournament will only grow stronger in the coming years, and I hope the UAE clubs will take advantage of this NAS Volleyball tournament and use it to raise the profile of the local league by attracting more fans to the stands and by expanding the sport’s base among the masses.”

H.

E. Yousef Al Mulla, the Chairman of UAE Volleyball Federation, congratulated both the teams for their “outstanding performance” in the finals and said the federation was always looking for ways to improve the level of the local league.

“However, it is difficult for the league to reach the level of the Nad Al Sheba Sports Tournament because here, all the teams in the tournament have foreign players in their ranks, and some of these players are the best in the world.

“Increasing the number of foreign players in the local league is not a solution because it will increase the gap between teams because some clubs have the means to sign the best players, while other clubs do not.

“Still, we are always open to different ideas and we will do everything we can to increase the popularity and technical level of our league and attract a greater number of youngsters to the sport.”

Organised by Dubai Sports Council (DSC) under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of Dubai Sports Council, the 2018 NAS Sports Tournament will see more than 5,000 athletes compete for a total prize-purse of Dh6 million in Dubai, across 11 competitions.

The tournament has also gone international this year with a five-a-side futsal competition taking place in the Egyptian capital Cairo and an eight-team volleyball tournament being held in Amman, Jordan.

NAS VOLLEYBALL

Final: F3 beat F3 ‘A’ 3-2 (16-25, 25-23, 25-21, 22-25, 15-13)

Individual Awards

Best Server: Mohammed Yaqoob (F3)

Best Setter: Mohammed Sultan (F3)

Best Blocker: Mubarak Sultan (F3 ‘A’)

Best Spiker: Robertlandy Simon (Surprise)

Best All-round Player: Amer Gulam (F3)

Tournament MVP: Yosvany Hernandez (F3 ‘A’)