Dubai: Triumphant skipper Ricardo Felipe picked up the best player award after his Fohood Zabeel team won the futsal competition on the concluding night of the Nad Al Sheba 2014 Sports Tournament here late on Sunday.
Portuguese star Felipe, who played a dominating role in his side’s victory over Al Markaz in last year’s final, was again at his best to lead Fohood Zabeel to a 2-0 win over Al Joker.
After a goalless first half, Fohood Zabeel opened the scoring through Rafael Franca, before UAE national team player Abdul Kareem Jamil had an easy tap-in for a second goal to give the squad their second crown in as many years — although last year sponsor Saeed Jaber had entered his side as Al Jawarah.
Al Joker were without multiple world player of the year Falcao due to injury, so it was left to Felipe to play his role as provider to perfection.
“This year we were aware all teams would want to beat us, so it was important to go through the pressure of facing some good teams, including Al Joker. We were ready for anyone as one team,” Felipe told Gulf News.
Earlier, Zabeel also tasted success with a hard-fought 3-2 win over Fursan to lift the volleyball title. Down after losing the opening set, Zabeel rallied well to win 19-25, 25-16, 25-20, 24-26, 15-11, with Mohammad Al Suwaidi doing a fantastic job at the net.
“This tournament has been a tremendous experience for me as a professional player. I want to build on this confidence of playing against some of the best players from the region,” Al Suwaidi said.
“I think the crucial element for us was that we stuck around as a team despite losing the first set. We gradually got our confidence and kept on improving through the match. This has been a great team effort,” added the 19-year-old from Al Shabab.
Shaikh Mansour Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum presented the winners with their awards in the presence of Mattar Al Tayer, Vice-Chairman of Dubai Sports Council, and Ebrahim Abdul Malek, General Secretary of the General Authority of Youth and Sports Welfare (GAYSW).
Held under the patronage of Shaikh Hamdan Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of Dubai Sports Council, the annual NAS tournament, with more than Dh7 million in prize money, was sponsored by Emirates, Dubai Duty Free, Meydan, Al Tayer Motors, Al Naboodah and Arabian Automobiles Al Rostamani.
