Dubai 2021 stun Zabeel as Quattro clinch points

AE spikers Rashid Ayoub and Majid Thani impress

Marwan Al Faheri of Quattro smashes past the Desert Storm block. — Supplied photo

Dubai — Strong Dubai 2021 got past a major hurdle when they registered their second straight win on day four of the volleyball competition in the 3^rd Nad Al Sheba (NAS) Sports Tournament at the NAS Sports complex late on Wednesday night and during the early hours on Thursday.

Their impressive all-round skills and powerful attacking modes saw them defeat defending champions Zabeel 3-2 (25-21, 25-17, 25-27, 26-28, 16-14) in close to two hours of raids conducted at blinding speeds, and terrific mid court digging and passing.

UAE spikers Rashid Ayoub and Majid Thani combined beautifully with Tunisian import Hamza Naqqa, to storm home after surrendering 2-0 lead when the defending champions strung together moves with flat trajectory passing and jab kills at the net.

In the night’s first volleyball fixture at the main indoor stadium, Quattro Centre warded off Desert Storm 3-0 (25-19, 25-17, 25-22 with Player of the Match Mohammad Al Marmari providing his expertise at the net. Marmari’s supplementary spikes came as a boon to Quattro for whom this is the second straight victory in as many outings in their group.

In the first two sets Syrian import Arwan Al Faheri’s killer touch, again at the net, was too hot for Desert Storm who had a brief moment of ascendency when they rallied from 16-21 to 21all in the third outing.

“This second win tonight (Wednesday) is crucial and this leads the way closer to a semifinal berth next week. We played well upfront and in our receiving department,” said the burly Marmari during the prize for his contributions in the match.

In the international padel tennis championship, young Argentines Martin Di Nenno and Franco Stupaczuk crashed to their second defeat in two days leaving them with no chance of advancing further.

Defending champs Di Nenno and Stupaczuk went down 0-6, 2-6 against the reigning world champion Juan Martin Diaz and Maxi Sanchez, late Tuesday night.

On Wednesday, Di Nenno and Stupaczuk started off by taking the first set 1-6 off fourth-ranked Jordi Munoz and Aday Santana. But Munoz and Santana won the next two 6-3, 6-3 to register their second win after two days of competition.

In the second group, Adrian Allemandi and Miguel Lamperti made it into the last four along with Sanyo Gutierrez and world champion Juani Mieres.

Allemandi and Lamperti defeated Fernando Poggi and Jaime Bergareche 7-5, 6-2, and Mieres/Gutierrez beat Alejandro Ruiz/Matias Martina 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 in a thriller. The semis take place on Saturday night from 10pm.

This year’s tournament with a prize fund of Dh8 million is being held in six different sports disciplines namely futsal, volleyball, a 10km road run, a 70km cycling race, wheelchair basketball and archery.