In the final of the inaugural Shuttle Time Dubai Badminton Club Championships, Team Victor lived up to their name on Friday, to take the Group A title in a tight contest with Shuttle Shooters at Dubai Sports World.
Over 120 players from 12 teams have fought it out over the last five weeks for a shot at the club crown, competing across five categories; Men’s Singles; Men’s Doubles; Mixed Doubles; Boy’s/Women’s Doubles, and Masters Doubles (40 and above).
After Arab Badminton Club defeated Badeemonz to take out the Group B title last week, all eyes were on Team Victor and Shuttle Shooters as they battled for the spoils in Group A.
Both teams had come through three early rounds with two wins and a loss, before triumphing over undefeated opposition in the semi-finals.
In a see-saw contest, Shuttle Shooters took the lead in the first of five matches, taking out the Mixed Doubles in four games, before Team Victor fought back in the Boy’s/Women’s Doubles to level the tie at one-all.
Team Victor’s star player, Indonesian born Heri Setiawan, a member of the Bahrain National Team, took control in the Men's Singles as he outclassed Shuttle Shooter’s Rahul Raghu.
Shuttle Shooters were not finished though, and fought back to win the Masters Doubles and after forty minutes of action, levelled the score at 2-2.
In meant the final went to a deciding Men's Doubles match where Tem Victor’s Heri Setiawan teamed up with Alfaz Kalam to face Shuttle Shooter’s Vinod and Avinash Vishnu. Team Victor took the first game, before Shuttle Shooters responded in kind to take the second.
Team Victor then took a narrow victory in the third before stepping up a gear to take the final game, and with it the Championship title, winning 11-4, 8-11, 9-11, 4-11.
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Alex Tharakan, Captain of Team Victor was delighted with his club’s win, saying: “This is great, fantastic, this is the first time that Shuttle Time Dubai has arranged this Championship and we are very happy to have won.
"It’s been very motivating and challenging to be part of this event, there’s a lot of participants, it’s good to see the diverse communities come together and it’s great for our team to to have won the first Club Championship. We loved being part of it!”
Team Victor also won the chance to attend coaching sessions with Badminton legend and former world number one Peter Gade.
Dubai Badminton Development Manager and Tournament Director Jaffer Ebrahim was very happy with the event: “It’s been a very successful tournament and there’s been a lot of excitement for the five weeks throughout the summer.
"The idea of Shuttle Time Dubai is to support and encourage the clubs, and now we have a lot of interest from them to improve their coaching and facilities, which will help increase the number of players here in Dubai.
"We are hoping this will be an annual event and all the clubs are looking forward to participating in this event each summer.
“Our next big project will be Shuttle Time Dubai National Training Centres, we will be targeting 160 Emirati players in four different centres and this will run for three months. We will also continue to do teacher education, technical official education, and tours to schools to promote badminton and to promote the Dubai World Superseries Finals.”
The attention of badminton fans will now turn to the Dubai World Superseries Finals which will be held at the Hamdan Sports Complex from 9-13 December, only 100 days away.
Tickets are on sale at www.ticketmaster.ae, and for all information about the event visit the Facebook page Dubai World Superseries Finals. For more information on Shuttle Time Dubai visit Badminton Shuttle Time Dubai on Facebook.
