Damac Ramadan Sports Festival off to perfect start

Gulf Today, Staff Reporter

The inaugural edition of the Damac Ramadan Sports Festival kicked off over the weekend with great fanfare.

Six matches each in basketball and football were played on Friday and Saturday, which witnessed the participation of Damac staff.

Damac Hills, Akoya, Paramount Hotel, Legal and the General Manager’s office competed in a football tournament.

Around 105 players took part in the games with 200 residents and spectators cheering their teams on from the stands. Damac Hills, Akoya and GM office teams were big winners in the football competition.

Never Too Late, Wringers and Black Mamba tasted success in basketball matches. The games will continue until May 7 and will include a duathlon competition. Winners and runner-ups participating in the festival will receive cash prizes and trophies.

The three-week long festival began on April 18 features various sports competitions, including a duathlon and marathon in coordination with Hopasports, as well as a football and basketball tournament organised by Champs UAE, headed by Lebanese basketball star Fadi El Khatib. Additionally, there will be a mini-Olympics organised for children.

Ali Sajwani, General Manager at Damac said: “On the heels of our successful cyclethon event held in March, we decided to keep the momentum and positive energy going by holding a Ramadan Sports Festival. As a company, Damac has always stressed the importance of health and fitness for our employees and going forward we would like to facilitate events for the health and fitness of the greater public.”

Damac recently held its first-ever cyclethon event, the Tour De DAMAC, at the Akoya community, in which close to 500 cycling professionals participated. In the event, Vladimir Gusev and Kim De Baat won the 60km race for adults in the men and women’s category, while Ali Jassim and Safiya Al Sayegh won in the Emirati men and women category.

Damac has also been a regular participant of the Dubai Fitness Challenge.

“As our Akoya community is fast developing and maturing, we are excited to be able to host sporting events there to showcase all the facilities and amenities that the community has to offer,” Sajwani added.