Around the UAE: Olympics swimming hopeful moves closer to qualifying for Rio

UAE swimmers, cricketers, triathletes and more are recapped in this week's Around the UAE.

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Swimming

Medals for Al Nasr at Portugal meet: University of Wollongong graduate student Sarra Lajnef moved closer to qualifying for the Rio 2016 Olympics after winning gold and silver at the VII Meeting Internacional da Povoa de Varzima meet in Portugal. Representing Al Nasr Club, Lajnef clinched the women's 200m individual medley and was runner-up in the 200m breaststroke. The Tunisian will take part in another competition in Athens from March 4-6 with the aim of registering a qualifying time for the Olympics. "My times are getting closer to Olympic qualifying times and I'm extremely satisfied," Lajnef said.

Emirati duo to be in action at World Cup: Two Emirati swimmers, Abdulla Hatem Al Balooshi, 19, and Amer Eissa Abdullah, 22, will be part of the field on Friday in the Fina/Hosa 10km Marathon Swimming World Cup on Abu Dhabi Corniche. "Amer and Abdulla are both promising, and with Amer reaching the Kazan World Championship in 2015, we are confident that he will achieve great results in Abu Dhabi on Friday," said Mohammed Al Zanati, UAE swimming team coach. The World Cup is part of a weekend of action which also sees Abu Dhabi hosting the High Diving World Cup competitions and the Fina Open Water Mass Participation Swim.

Cricket

Openers clinch big win for Touchmate: Muhammadullah Khan and Mohammed Gayaz hammered centuries to power Touchmate to a resounding 107-run win over Wollongong in the Asianet Premier League T20 tournament. Sent in to bat first, Muhammadullah (108 not out) and Gayaz (101 not out) went on the rampage to post 222 for no loss. In reply, Wollongong could muster only 115 for eight at The Sevens grounds in Dubai. Rig Power Technical Construction downed RAK Insurance by eight wickets and Alubond Tigers won by 38 runs over Globelink West Star in the other games.

Triathlon

UAE trio will take on the field: An all-Emirati team will compete in the ITU World Triathlon Abu Dhabi next week when the second edition of the season-opening World Series event takes place on Abu Dhabi Corniche on March 5. The three-man team – swimmer Obeid Al Jasmi from Abu Dhabi, cyclist Badr Ali Thani from Dubai and Fujairah-born runner Khalifa Al Nuaimi – will race in the Age Group category on the Olympic Distance course alongside participants from 44 countries.

Equestrian

Big turnout expected at the show jumping: Over 120 competitors in both the professional and amateur categories will vie for honours in the Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak Academy (FBMA) Show Jumping Cup at the Abu Dhabi Equestrian Club (Adec) on Friday and Saturday. With a prize purse of Dh400,000 up for grabs, the event has drawn professional riders from the United States, Europe and the Middle East. The other two categories are the open and juniors. "One of the main goals of this competition is to encourage and provide more competition opportunities for young Emirati female riders from FBMA," said Adnan Sultan Al Nuaimi, the Adec secretary general.

Motorsport

Emirati drivers Atef Al Barwani and Rashid Al Dhaheri emerged as outright winners in Round 3 of the SWS Sprint races held at the Dubai Kartdrome on Monday night.

Multiple SWS champion Al Barwani sparkled under the Kartdrome floodlights, qualifying second before becoming embroiled in a four-way battle for top honours with pole winner Ahmed Al Hammadi, Rami Azzam and Dubai schoolgirl Abigail Birch.

In the end, Al Barwani took the win by a mere 0.326 of a second over Al Hamamdi and Birch, who turned seventh on the grid to third place when the chequered flag dropped to end the race.

In Race 2, Umid Ali and Romaldo Labrooy slugged it out for top honours in race two with Umid Ali edging victory by 0.693 of second. Al Barwani finished fourth to be the overall winner.

Earlier in the evening, Abu Dhabi schoolboy Rashid Al Dhaheri qualified in pole position for the SWS Junior Sprint race.

In Race 1, Jad Charaffudine powered to his first SWS win by two seconds over Al Dhaheri who bounced back to win the second race after a long battle with Danny Shields, the pair crossing the line separated by 0.756 of a second.

University sport

The New York University Abu Dhabi Falcons women football team overcame Zayed University Z 5-0 to book their passage in the semi-finals of the Abu Dhabi Inter-University League.

The NYUAD were also successful in basketball with both their men and women teams emerging winners. In the men’s division-1, they got the better of UAE University 54-20 with Hussein Karzoumi (18 points/15 rebounds), Will Young (10/12) and Tima Akimtegi (13/10) chipping in with the major contributions. They also defeated Zayed University 1-22 in the division-2 while the women’s team emerged 22-7 winners over Abu Dhabi University

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