The Big 3, Sharjah Women A win NAS Basketball titles

The Big 3 and Sharjah Women Team A clinched the Men’s and Women’s titles at the NAS 3x3 Basketball Championship, while The Quattro Ballers and Triple Threat triumphed in the Juniors Girls and Junior Boys categories respectively.

The Big 3 defeated Ball Above All 19-11 in the Men’s final, while Sharjah Women Team A cruised to a 13-6 win over And One in the Women’s final. In the Junior Girls’ final, the Quattro Ballers proved too good for Brooklyn Nets, winning 9-2, while Triple Threat edged the Junior Boys’ title with a 13-12 win over the JamBlack Mambas.

“This second edition of the NAS 3x3 Basketball Championship has achieved all our goals,” said Salah Amin, Chairman of Nad Al Sheba Sports Tournament’s Executive Committee, after the finals on Wednesday night in Dubai Design District. “The first edition of the tournament last year had shown us the great popularity of this sport among different sections of our community and the huge success of this edition is a confirmation of that.

“We saw 66 teams representing different segments of our community take part in the tournament, and we saw lots of fans come here to Dubai Design District to support them. They got to see some really good players in action here, players with a lot of potential.

“The matches were of a high level, but more importantly, everyone enjoyed being a part of this championship and I am sure they are already looking forward to the next edition of the NAS 3x3 Basketball tournament.”

Akshay Jotin starred with both bat and ball as Hadaf Sporting RAK defeated Wolfpack Cricket Club by 30 runs to confirm their spot in the last eight of the NAS Cricket T10 Tournament, which is being held at the Wombats Cricket ground in Jebel Ali.

The Ras Al Khaimah team, who defeated Mideast Metals by six wickets in their opening game, made 127 for 5 batting first, with opener M Surjith scoring a 21-ball 40 (1x4, 4x6s) and adding 78 runs for the second wicket in 5.3 overs with Jotin, who smashed 49 off 22 balls (4x4s, 4x6s).

Jotin than returned to pick up two wickets for 23 helping restrict Wolfpack to 97 for 5.

In the other game of the night, Chalhoub Group defeated Abu Dhabi Tigers by 35 runs with Junaid Kazi leading their campaign. Opening the innings, he returned unbeaten on a blistering 71 (31 balls, 6x4s, 5x6s) as Chalhoub put 153 for 2 on the board, with S Ankur (29: 13b, 3x4s, 2x6s) and Vinay Mehta (32 not out: 10b, 3x4s, 3x6s) also making worthwhile contributions.

Kazi then came back to take three wickets, including that of the innings’ top scorer Ameer Hamza (42: 16b, 1x4, 5x6s), as the Tigers’ slipped from 103 for two in the eighth over to finish on 118 for 7, losing five wickets for 15 runs in a frantic finish.

The win, however, was in vain as Chalhoub failed to make it to the knockout stage. The finished level on 3 points with Noor Bank, but the latter – who had lost to the Tigers in the opening game but bounced back to beat Chalhoub in the second - punched their ticket to the quarterfinals from Pool 2 thanks to a better run-rate.

The eight-team NAS Futsal Championship kicked off at the Nad Al Sheba Sports Complex on Wednesday night, with Galal Sayadi scoring a hat-trick as Saudi Driving School, who won the title as Emirates Driving Institute in 2018, defeated Fuhood Zabeel 3-2 in the opening game.

In the second game, F16 managed to hold on for a 3-2 win over Victory, while Al Tahar beat Al Bahri 4-2 in the final match of the night.

Earlier, Dubai 2021 rallied from a set down to beat Surprise 3-1 and win a fourth NAS Volleyball Championship title for the franchise.

Winners of the title in 2015 and 2016, and also last year as F3, Dubai 2021 lost a close first set and were trailing 11-15 in the second, but fought back to level the scores at 21-21 and shifted gears from thereon, winning 24-26, 25-22, 25-21, 25-21 at the Nad Al Sheba Sports Complex on Tuesday night. The winners bagged a cheque of Dhs600,000, while the runners-up took home Dhs500,000.

The two teams received their trophies and medals from Sheikh Hasher Bin Maktoum Al Maktoum, Director General of Dubai Department of Information and President of Tennis Emirates, in the presence of Sheikha Shamsa Bint Hashar Al Maktoum, a member of the Board of UAE Volleyball Association, Saeed Hareb, Secretary General of Dubai Sports Council, Major General Mohammed Ahmed Al Marri, Director General of Dubai’s General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs, Tournament Director Hassan Al Mazrouei and Ramesh Cidambi, Chief Operating Officer of Dubai Duty Free, who are the Platinum Sponsors of NAS Sports Tournament 2019.