Titans set up T20 semis clash with MGM; FZ face DP in futsal last four

Naven Gorthi struck a majestic unbeaten 84 as Titans Cricket Club clinched a thrilling 5-run win over Hadaf Sporting RAK to set up a semi-final with MGM Sharjah in the NAS Cricket T10 Tournament, which is being held at the Wombats Cricket Ground in Jebel Ali.

In the other quarterfinal match of the night, Salman Cool Boys cruised to a seven wicket win over Noor Bank and will now meet DHL in the semi-finals.

Opening the innings, Gorthi saw his partner Sheridan Hadfield depart without scoring and the number three, Veera Pandian did not last long either, scoring only 1.

Gorthi, however, found an able ally in, first, Arshad Sadiq (21: 10b,1x4, 2x6s) and then Asghar Afridi (18: 9b, 1x4, 1x6) and those two partnerships, of 41 and 40 respectively, helped the Titans post a respectable 133 for 5. Gorthi’s 84 runs came off 33 balls and the innings was studded 6 fours and 7 sixes.

Hadaf Sporting got off to a disastrous start in their chase. Their two openers M Surjith and K Noushad were back in the shed without bothering the scorers, while number three Midhun Sudhakar and number five Ashok Kumar scored 3 and 2 respectively.

From four down for 28, Hadaf made a spirited rally with Akhil Das (33: 17b, 3x4s, 3x6s), Vishak Sasikumar (32: 10b, 3x4s, 3x6s), Manikanten Nair (31: 12b, 3x4s, 2x6s) and Godson Louie (20: 8b, 1x4, 1x6) leading the fightback.

The Titans camp must have been a tense one as Hadaf scored 20 runs in the penultimate over to give themselves a target of 15 from the last, but Haider Ali remained calm and gave away only eight runs to seal a thrilling win for the Titans.

Meanwhile, Fohood Zabeel (FZ) will meet Dubai Police (DP) in the semi-final of the NAS Futsal Championship after drubbing Victory 11-2 to top Group A, while Al Taher took the top spot in Group B following their 6-2 win over Tolerance in the final round of group matches on Monday night and they will next meet defending champions Saudi Driving School.

Dubai Police, who defeated Al Bahri 4-3 to book their semi-final spot, finished level on 7 points with Al Taher, but the latter took the top position thanks to a better goal-difference.

In the NAS Wheelchair Basketball match for the third place, Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) beat Dubai Corporation for Ambulance Services 68-53.

Meanwhile, some of the UAE’s best known sports personalities, both Emiratis and expatriates, were at the Nad Al Sheba Sports Complex on Monday night, sharing their tales of triumph and tribulation with a rapt audience at the first Sports Imprint Forum.

The list of speakers, totalling 27, ranged from OBE David Labouchere, a 55-year-old triathlete, to eight-year-old Lamia Tariq Malallah, and included the likes of UAE and Shabab Al Ahli football star Majed Hassan and Marcus Smith, who ran 30 marathons in 30 days during the last Dubai Fitness Challenge in 2018; cancer-survivor and amputee Dareen Barber and Team Angel Wolf’s Nick Watson; swimmer Obaid Al Jasmi, who represented the UAE at Olympic Games and has an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records; UAE Para-athlete Siham Al Rashidi and 50-year-old UAE great Mohammed Khamis Khalaf, winner of two Paralympic Games weightlifting gold medals, first in Athens in 2004 and then Rio in 2016, and a silver in Beijing 2008.

Omar Al Fadhli, winner of a gold medal at last year’s Jiu-Jitsu World Championship in Sweden, and Mahra Al Hanaei, winner of a Jiu-Jitsu silver medal at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta, were also there along with a bunch of young and upcoming Emirati sports talents like UAE national team volleyball players Mohammed Abbas and Nadia Ali, karatekas Marwan Al Maazmi and Fatima Salem Khusaif, judoka Ahmed Faisal Al Naqbi, and Track and Field’s Ahmed Ali Hassan, Mohammed Omar Mohammed and Fatima Al Hosani, and fencer Shahad Ahmed Khurram.

Thanking all the participants for sharing their inspirational experiences, Nasser Aman Al Rahma, Assistant Secretary General of Dubai Sports Council, said: “We are thankful to them for agreeing to be a part of this initiative, which seeks to inspire others through their experience and their struggle against the odds in their journey towards sporting success.

“The Nad Al Sheba Sports Tournament, organised under the patronage of Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of Dubai Sports Council, understands the influential role athletes can play in society by inspiring others to follow their lead and creating generations of aspirants, eager to emulate.”