Sheikh Hamdan inspires competitors at Gov Games

Fresh from qualifying for the Gov Games 2019 men’s final with Team F3, Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of the Executive Council of Dubai, returned to an energised Gov Games site on Dubai Kite Beach today to inspire 36 teams competing in men’s Heat 3.

With the last two qualifying spots in the Gov Games final at stake in men’s Heat 3, Sheikh Hamdan wished luck to competitors, interacted with spectators and received a briefing from Marwan Bin Issa, the Director of Gov Games, which is organised by the Executive Council of Dubai in partnership with Dubai Sports Council. Sheikh Hamdan’s gesture is a timely reminder of the competition’s ethos of teamwork and theme of One Team, One Spirit.

In the men’s Heat 3, Abu Dhabi Police produced a dominant performance across nine obstacles to score 125.75 points. The team narrowly edged out their colleagues at Dubai Police, who finished second and also qualify for the finals.

“We watched other teams face the obstacles and knew they would not be not easy, but they are much harder than we thought,” said Ibrahim Al Shamsi, a member of the Abu Dhabi Police team. “I want to thank Sheikh Hamdan for holding Gov Games, it is great initiative to drive teamwork. We hope the event is back next year with even more difficult obstacles and challenges. We’ll see what happens in the final, there’s not a lot of time to rest but we are strong and determined.”

All-UAE line-up to contest Gov Games finals

Sheikh Hamdan is among four men’s teams to have qualified for the Gov Games 2019 final at Dubai’s Kite Beach on Saturday, April 6.

With 70 teams in Heats 1 and 2 chasing four qualifying spots, the all-male squads from the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the USA joyously embraced the Gov Games theme of ‘One Team. One Spirit’ in front of appreciative crowds. Two further teams will qualify from Heat 3 on Friday evening to round-out the six finalists.

Determined to make an early impression, the team F3 qualified top of Heat 1 by registering 155.77 points. The defending Gov Games champions showed the perfect blend of strength, speed, quick-thinking and steely determination to book their place in Saturday’s final ahead of Fujairah Police, who produced an inspired late surge to take second place.

Following his team’s Heat 1 victory, Sheikh Hamdan emphasised that F3 is focused repeating last year’s achievements with greater strength and determination However, the F3 captain acknowledged his team will face a tough challenge in Saturday’s final, with the five other qualifiers demonstrating supreme levels of fitness, mental strength and teamwork.

Sheikh Hamdan stressed that the objective of F3’s participation in Gov Games was to demonstrate the importance of teamwork and to motivate others.

In Heat 2, the Dubai State Security Apparatus team produced a late rally over the final four obstacles to seal top spot with 98.28 points, just ahead of the UAE Ministry of Education team, who followed in the footsteps of their women’s team, which booked its place in the women’s final in Wednesday’s Heats. The highly-anticipated Gov Games finals will take place on The Battleship – a giant obstacle reserved exclusively for the competition finale.

Watched by thousands of cheering spectators, the F3 team also managed to close the door on some unfinished business from 2018 as they successfully navigated nine daunting obstacles, including Human Ladder 2.0 – the only challenge which defeated the squad last year. F3 also completed three bonus challenges in a near-perfect performance.

Heat 3, the last men’s qualifier, will see 36 team take to the Kite Beach obstacle course at 4pm on Friday. The two top-rank

The men’s Heat 3 results ensures an all-UAE line-up for a dramatic Gov Games finale on Saturday, April 6. The women’s final will feature F3, the UAE Ministry of Education, Dubai Tourism, Dubai Municipality, Dubai Airports and DEWA, while Abu Dhabi Police and Dubai Police join F3, Fujairah Police, Dubai State Security Apparatus and the UAE Ministry of Education in the men’s final. Both finals will take place on The Battleship – a giant obstacle reserved exclusively for the competition finale.