Choueifat Dubai hosts Sabis regional tournament

The SABIS International Schools of Dubai and Sharjah hosted the 9th Regional Sports Tournament on March 30 and 31. The event attracted over 1000 participants from 23 SABIS schools in 12 countries around the world.

The two host schools are members of the SABIS/Choueifat Global School Network that started with humble beginnings in 1886 and currently educates more than 60,000 students in both the private and public sectors, operating in 15 countries and spread over four continents.

In the tournament's opening ceremony, over 1000 SABIS students from Germany, Romania, Qatar, UAE, Oman, Egypt, Bahrain, Lebanon, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Kurdistan Iraq and Jordan marched onto the field to the music of the military platoon of the UAE Armed Forces.  The ceremony started with a welcome speech by Hisham Hassan, Choueifat Dubai School Director, in the presence of Sheikh Mansour bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Dubai Sport Council represented by Ali Al Mutawa,  Victor Saad, SABIS Vice President, guests and SABIS school directors from the region.    Al Mutawa welcomed all delegates to the UAE and expressed the happiness of Dubai Sport Council to The International Schools of Choueifat/SABIS for hosting this sporting event in Dubai and for adding value to Dubai’s sporting initiatives.

Victor Saad, SABIS Vice President, commenced his speech by welcoming Sheikh Mansour bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, an alumnus of ISC. He added that the tournament is a testimony to SABIS’s commitment to develop student abilities in art, music, and sports.

Saad encouraged the athletes, saying that through their participation, they will build confidence, resilience, teamwork and many other skills that will enable them to thrive not just in an educational environment but well beyond when they go on to working life.  He added that “good sportsmanship means winning without gloating, losing without complaining and, most importantly, having respect for our team-mates, our opponents, and the officials.”

The speeches were followed by a selection of performances by students from SABIS schools in the UAE.  The presentations varied from the UAE traditional dance to traditional Lebanese folkloric ‘dabke’, Korean dance and a gymnastic display that celebrated the uniqueness of the UAE heritage and the diversity of the different cultures in Sabis schools.

Saad presented Sheikh Mansour bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum with a plaque as a token of appreciation for his inauguration of the grand opening ceremony.  Sheikh Mansour then signed the championship ball, which was later used by Michel Salgado, former captain of the Spanish soccer team and Real Madrid player, to-start the tournament by passing the ball at the start of the first game.

Participating students enthusiastically competed in swimming, basketball, soccer, sprint, relay, and long jump. The two-day sporting event attracted many local and international spectators.

Saad announced that the destination of the next host for the RT 2015 adding that on the occasion of its 10th anniversary, the 2015 SABIS® Regional Tournament will be hosted in Lebanon.

Medals and trophies were then awarded to the winning teams.  All SABIS® schools had their share of winning in football, basketball, sprint, long jump and swimming with ISC Cairo taking home a total of seventeen medals, ISC Amman and ISF Germany a total of 12 medals each, Choueifat Lebanon a total of six medals and Al Ain and Doha a total of five medals each. Twenty seven more medals were shared amongst the remaining schools.

ISC Erbil (Kurdistan Iraq) put up an excellent performance winning the first place in under 10 football against Cairo and under 14 football against Dubai.  The final event in the tournament was a spectacular match in under-18 boys basketball between two strong competitors, with Choueifat Lebanon scoring first and ISC Dubai second.

The results also included eleven new records.  Records were broken in girls sprint relay (ISC Amman), boys sprint relay (ISC Cairo), sprint (Choueifat Lebanon, ISC Cairo and ISC Amman) and swimming (ISC Al Ain, ISC Amman and ISC Cairo).


 

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