Schools round-up: High-profile visitors in Abu Dhabi, Brighton finish 5th in Kuwait

Matt Jones - Editor 07:45 19/01/2015
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  • Sporting legends: (l-r) Tim Henman, Brian O'Driscoll, George Gregan and Gavin Hastings interact with British School Al Khubairat students.

    There was excitement rather than trepidation when students in Abu Dhabi were visited by two lions, a tiger and a wallaby last week.

    That’s because the animals in question were in fact British & Irish Lions legends Brian O’Driscoll and Gavin Hastings, Wallaby great George Gregan and ex-British ten­nis ace Tim Henman, who was given the nickname ‘Tiger Tim’ during his playing days.

    – #Quiz360: WIN a six-month Target Gym membership

    – INTERVIEW: Brian O'Driscoll, Ireland's greatest ever centre 

    The foursome visited the British School Al Khubairat last week in their roles as HSBC ambassadors of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Champi­onships.

    BBC sports commentator Andrew Cotter was also on hand and all five pitched in with coaching drills for the rugby mad youngsters, with Henman showing off some pretty impressive skills.

     The former sportsmen also held a question and answer session for the pupils, a hoard of parents also attending.

    Former Irish centre O’Driscoll, who is the most capped rugby in­ternational of all time with 133 caps for the Men in Green and another eight for the Lions, was on his first visit to Abu Dhabi.

    One of the stand-out players of the current generation, Brian O'Driscoll.

    “It’s great we’re able to come down here and share a little bit of our knowledge about the game and watch the talent for the future,” he said.

    “There’s plenty of talent out there so keep training hard and lis­tening to your coaches.”

    O’Driscoll, 35, retired in May fol­lowing a career which saw him col­lect three Heineken Cup titles with Leinster as well as lift a Six Nations Grand Slam with Ireland.

     O’Driscoll replaced Gregan as the most capped international ever and the former Australia scrum-half spoke about the honour he felt cap­taining his country.

    He said: “It was a fantastic expe­rience. It comes with big responsi­bility but it was a really enjoyable.

    “Seeing the reaction from the people that come and support you is an amazing experience.”

    Hastings captained Scotland and the Lions during his career as a renowned goal-kicker, scoring 667 points for Scotland and 66 in six Tests for the Lions.

    Former Scotland star Gavin Hastings.

    He told the kids that they are playing “the best team sport in the world”.

    “I remember it was absolutely fantastic as a kid to get to meet someone well known or at the very highest level of sport,” he said.

    “You need your heroes and these guys are heroes because of the way they played their sport.

    “We were all lucky enough to play at the top level and one of the best things for us is getting to pass on a bit of our knowledge to each and every one of you.”

    Henman said that playing at his home tournament of Wimble­don every year was one of the best things about his career.

    “To play at Wimbledon was always very, very special,” he said. “I grew up watching that tournament, so to compete there was fantastic.”

    Brighton inside five at BSME Games in Kuwait 

    Brighton College finished in a very respectable fifth place at the Under-13 BSME Games in Kuwait over the weekend.

    A total of 23 pupils from the Abu Dhabi school formed the squad that travelled to Kuwait for the British Schools in the Middle East event.

    The pupils competed in four disciplines across five sections, including basketball, football for boys and girls, netball and athletics.  
    Brighton College’s best result was in netball and girls’ football where they finished in third place.

    In athletics, they came seventh while the boys finished ninth in football with the basketball team claiming 11th position.

    The full team who competed are: Teoman Demirci, Hrishikesh Mukundan, Marko Prinsloo, Wilhelm Garemo, George Rawlings, Joseph Randell, Andrew Dadson, Kai Smith, Sebastian Johansen, Mohamed Al Shehaimi, Saif Alfaheem, Kareen Elzeftawy, Brianna Edmunds, Briony Fowles, Zoe Lindley Smith, Laura Hurn, Emily Walster, Ellie Jackson, Ammarah Malik, Chloe Perry, Adrianna Zeltz, Mollie Nisbet and Lilya Rameshni.

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