UAE’s rising star Ketbi hogs the limelight

dubai — Sultan Al Ketbi emerged as a rising star for UAE scoring the biggest win of the day when he outclassed Zuhair Al Qarni of Saudi Arabia 22-0 in a BC2 pool A match with a superlative performance on the third day of the Fazza Bisfed (Boccia International Sports Federation) Regional Open Championship–Dubai 2017 at the Dubai Club for the Disabled on Monday.

Thailand players also took centre stage as the pool matches of the individual competition began on the third day of the event held under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of Dubai Sports Council.

UAE coach Fawad Al Hashimi hailed Al Ketbi’s win. “We are very happy with the score achieved by Sultan who is one of the best players in our team. He has been practicing boccia since 2011. We are pleased to see Saudi Arabia making their international debut in the sport,” he said.

Sultan’s win even overshadowed the sluggish performance of the world’s number one BC2 player Worawut Saengampa from Thailand who overcame Saudi Arabia’s Ahmed Al Sweidan 6-0.

However, Watcharaphon Vongsa, the world’s number three BC2 player, romped past Hong Kong’s Pak Lun Chan 16-0 in pool B. Hi Lam Yeung of Hong Kong seemed assured of topping pool C opening his campaign by outplaying Salim Al Kaabi of UAE 15-0 while South Korea’s Byeong Cheoi Choi prevailed over Hong Kong’s John Loung 4-1 in a closely contested match.

The event sees a participation of 56 elite Boccia players from 10 countries and will conclude on Wednesday.

The participating countries are Australia, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, India, South Korea, Singapore, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Thailand and hosts UAE who are fielding 14 players.