Dubai: Al Fursan capped their fantastic unbeaten run with a 71-50 win over Dubai Public Prosecution in the final of the wheelchair basketball at the Fourth Nad Al Sheba (NAS) Ramadan Sports Tournament late on Saturday.

Going in with an unblemished record throughout the tournament, Al Fursan relied heavily on their foreign duo, Florian Mach from Germany and Akaseet Jum Jarean from Thailand, to keep the scoreboard moving and by the end of the four quarters the two had accounted for more than half the points scored by the winners.

Saeed Hareb, General Secretary of Dubai Sports Council (DSC), was joined by Hassan Al Mazrouei, Tournament Director, to hand over the trophies to the new champions.

Al Fursan started in top gear with Mach scoring seven points and Jarean adding another six for a comfortable 19-10 lead by the end of the opening period. With the UAE’s Ebrahim Al Hammadi joining in with his personal contribution of six points, they were cruising smoothly at 35-21 by the half-time hooter.

It was in the third period that Public Prosecution threatened to fight back with Ashraf Abu Zeid — captain of the Egyptian national team — constantly combining with Germany-based Lebanese player Michel Thomas to outscore Al Fursan. However, by the end of the third quarter, Mach and Tariq Alyasi intervened and together scored 23 points to once again hand Al Fursan a 20-point cushion at 58-38. The final period was low scoring, with Al Fursan matched by their opponents 13-12, and that was eventually enough for them to be crowned the new champions.

Mach went on to topscore with 28 points — 13 of these in the penultimate period — while Jarean and Al Hammadi added 12 points apiece for the winners. Abu Zeid was stifled through much of the encounter, but still managed to emerge as the second best scorer with 20 points.

Mach, who switched to wheelchair basketball from football after his knees started giving trouble five years ago, was pleased that his team’s perseverance had paid off. “I was nervous before the final and that is what helped me to give off my best and ensure I was part of the winning side on my first-ever visit to Dubai,” Mach told Gulf News.

“Both teams were evenly balanced, but I think we had a better game plan in place and we simply stuck to it,” he explained.

Meanwhile, the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa) needed extra time to secure a hard-fought 31-28 win over hosts Dubai Club for Special Sports ‘B’ to bag the third place. Going neck-and-neck after surrendering a 10-2 lead to their opponents early in the match, Dewa had to dig in deep after the hosts’ Pim Corn had scored a three-pointer on the final hooter to tie the scores 27-27.

But Dewa were in no mood to surrender a consolation third spot as Marino Buic scored when it mattered to see them through over the line 31-28.

Later in the night, the Al Thiqah Club, Sharjah, scored an overwhelming 9-0 win over Abu Dhabi Club to clinch the Deaf Football crown.

RESULTS

(Wheelchair Basketball) Final: Al Fursan bt Dubai Public Prosecution 71-50. Third place: Dewa bt Dubai Club for Special Sports ‘B’ 31-28.

(Deaf Football Final) Al Thiqah Club, Sharjah bt Abu Dhabi Club 9-0.