The Indian High School were denied a clean sweep but still had reasons to celebrate, taking home three trophies in the Shuttle Time Dubai Schools Championships Finals.
The school went into the tournament at Hamdan Sports Complex vying for U-13, U-15 and U-17 crowns in the boys’ and girls’ categories.
But following some thrilling encounters and with exceptional individual displays on show, Our Own English High School, Our Own High School Al Warqa and GEMS Our Own Indian School spoiled the party with deserved victories.
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The Indian High School won the girls’ U-13 title without even hitting a shot, with a walkover over The Millennium School.
The celebrations continued in the girls’ U-15 but they were made to work after a closely-fought enc-ounter over GEMS Our Own English High School.
After Sara Siraj gave The Indian High School a 1-0 lead, GEMS levelled the scores thanks to Nanda Subramanian. But Siraj and Akshaya Ramesh completed the victory for their school, defeating Chanel D’Sa and Adah George with a 2-1 triumph.
Our Own English High School girls’ team soon gained revenge, clinching the U-17 title with the same scoreline against the U-15 winners.
With the tie all square, Nida Najeeb and Sanuja Sanil teamed up to win 2-1.
In the boys’ category, Ravi Sajayan and Adrian Mathews won their respective U-13 encounters against Our Own High School Al Warqa for Indian High School’s third title of the day.
That proved to be their last success as Our Own High School Al Warqa and GEMS Our Own Indian High School denied the U-13 champions to end their dominance.
Dhyan Arjun Vijay defeated Sanjeev Kotha 1-0 to give Our Own High School Al Warqa the advantage. And Naveen Bobby built on that lead, beating Kevin Suares 1-0, to seal the U-15 title.
GEMS Our Own Indian School secured the U-17 honours as Abdullah Shaheer and Mohammed Muanis came up with the goods to win 2-0.
It capped a strong end to the tournament which has galvanised the sport in the UAE.
Jaffer Ebrahim, the Dubai Badminton Development Manager, is pleased the event had a positive impact on the pupils.
“The Shuttle Time Dubai Schools Championship gives schools in Dubai a platform to compete in a format similar to the Superseries World Finals,” he said.
“The children had to play well throughout the year to qualify for the finals, and to have the opportunity to be coached by Peter Gade.
“The visits to the Schools Championships earlier in the year by badminton superstars Saina Neh-wal and Kidambi Srikanth was an extra treat for the participants, and the chance to meet some of their sporting heroes really motivated the children to practise hard and play well.
“It is very exciting to see the progress the children have made this year, and with more coaches and teachers undertaking the coaching courses we look forward to even more improvement next year.”
