International Athletics Tournament: AUD Athletes Get First Place
AUD athletes scored big last week at the annual International Athletics Tournament held on the campus of the American University in Dubai.
AUD’s men basketball and volleyball teams, as well as Emirati tennis player Fahad Al Janahi, won 1st place in their respective categories. AUD’s women’s basketball team and men’s soccer team came second, while the female volleyball team won the third place. In the tennis men’s final, Janahi, 20, defeated Athanasios Tzortzakis from ACG Greece University.
Eleven teams from Italy, Greece, Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates participated in five different sports for both men and women. The annual event was hosted by AUD for the first time.
“The Athletics department usually participates yearly in an International tournament” that is each time organized in a different country, Maria Khoury, AUD’s Athletics Coordinator, told the MBRSC Post. “This year we decided to be the host and organize one.”
Many AUD athletes were competing for the first time against international teams.
“Not only was it a competition but it was an opportunity to meet new people, witness some talented athletes and most of all get closer to my teammates as we had to come together to fight on the court,” said Kalkidan Bekele, a member of AUD’s women’s volleyball team. “It brought diversity and skills into one.”
AUD’s Athletic International Tournament was an opportunity to train the students to fight for every point and to strive for success, but it was also used as a learning experience for many of the athletes in the university.
“The international tournament was an amazing opportunity to use as a learning experience by being exposed to teams that play at a higher level than what we usually play against,” said Yara El Zein, an athlete on Sports Scholarship for AUD’s Women’s Volleyball Team.
Placements:
Men’s basketball:
1st place: American University in Dubai
2nd place: ACG Greece University
3rd place: Jam Sports Academy
Woman’s basketball:
1st place: Tor Vergata Rome University
2nd place: American University in Dubai
3rd place: Jam Sports Academy
Men’s volleyball:
1st place: American University in Dubai
2nd place: Lebanese American University- Jbeil
3rd place: Lebanese American University- Beirut
Woman’s volleyball:
1st place: CUS Statale Milano-Italy
2nd place: ACG Greece University
3rd place: American University in Dubai
Men’s soccer:
1st place: ACG Greece University
2nd place: American University in Dubai
3rd place: American University of Beirut
Men’s tennis:
1st place: Fahad Al Janahi- American University in Dubai
2nd place: Athanasios Tzortzakis- ACG Greece University
3rd place: Shaun Correia- American University of Sharjah
Woman’s tennis:
1st place: Aikaterini Afroditi Manta- ACG Greece University
2nd place: Lea Taleb- Lebanese American University- Jbeil
3rd place: Serena Joseph- Lebanese American University- Jbeil
Participating Teams:
AUB – American University in Beirut
LAU Beirut – Lebanese American University, Beirut
LAU Jbeil – Lebanese American University, Jbeil
ACG Greece – American College of Greece, Greece
AUS – American University of Sharjah
CUD – Canadian University in Dubai
AUD – American University in Dubai
Bocconi University Italy
CUS Statale Milano University Italy
Tor Vergata University Rome Italy
JAM Sports Academy
