Dubai: Hosts Dubai Police earned a consolation third place with a 5-2 win over Arsenal in the hardlines play-off for the Fifth Maktoum Bin Rashid Football Chamionship at the Dubai Police Officers Club ground late on Saturday.
Dubai Police had lost 1-2 to Ajman’s Shaikh Rashid Bin Ammar team while Fohood had booked their place in Sunday’s final with a 4-2 tie-breaker win against Arsenal after being tied 2-2 at full-time.
In Saturday’s third place tussle, Waleed Ahmad opened the scoring in the 16th minute while Ebrahim Hussain doubled the advantage for Dubai Police at end of the first half.
Arsenal stuck to the plan in the second half and they had to wait till the 25th minute for striker Ebrahim Obaid to pull one back through a solo effort past the police defence. The hosts decided to lie in deep and rely on counter-attacks to defend their narrow lead.
This strategy paid off as three quick counters saw Dubai Police scoring through Mansour Abbas in 33rd minute, and a brace from Hamdan Qassim. But Arsenal did not give up and Abdul Karim signed off with a beautiful goal in the final minute.
Meanwhile, Mohsin Mohammad of Sky Dive Dubai won the 3.5km road race held on the sidelines of the annual championship. The champion had a time of 10:22.52 minutes to finish a mere four seconds clear of team-mate Tawfiq Allam, while third place went to Mohammad Aitmas from the FPS team in a time of 10:31.18.
Colonel Humaid Al Ansari, Vice President, Organizing Committee presented the winners with their trophies and medals. Jassim Ali Akbar and Abdullah Ahmad were presented with special prizes for being the youngest runners.
Held under the patronage of Shaikh Mohammad Bin Maktoum Bin Rashid Al Maktoum with sponsorship from Inkas Vehicles LLC, the annual competition consisted of indoor rowing, cross fit, Mas-Wrestling, running races, bowling and the football tournament, with a total prize fund of Dhs 1 million.
