Cager Humaira now stands tall in cricket as well
All-rounder fashions UAE triumph in GCC championships
dubai — Tall all-rounder Humaira Tasneem is proving to be a fast improving cricketer these days after her exploits as one of the UAE’s top school athletes and basketball players, the past many seasons.
T. Ali, head of the physical education department, Delhi Private School (DPS)-Sharjah can be credited with the fact that it was due to his scouting abilities that Humaira, a sprinter originally, turned out to be a leading basketball player for DPS-Sharjah, and now for the American University of Sharjah women’s squad.
A third year architecture student, Humaira has been playing cricket for the past many years having inspired the UAE under-19 teams before becoming a seniors team player with international experience from the events held in Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and Qatar.
Now while leading the UAE senior squad, she assisted the side in retaining the title at the GCC cricket championships for women in Doha during the weekend.
Humaira who is more of a leggie and a more than useful bat, took six wickets and held three catches in the tournament, to give the side the perfect UAE National Day present — the GCC title. The other UAE players to shine during the Doha event were Heena Hotchandani, Subha Venkataraman, Ayesha Naushad Khan and Chaya Mughal who propelled the side to a five-wicket triumph against Qatar in the Doha summit clash.
“Having played for the UAE all these years as a junior and now as a senior team player, I feel honoured that I could play a part to inspire the team members who gave their best and helped us come out of difficult situations without much trouble,” Humaira told Khaleej Times, on Saturday.
“The second straight GCC title for us and during the week of the National Day celebrations made the feeling of success even more sweeter for us.”
Humaira has been a regular when it comes to bagging the topscorer and Most valuable Player awards in the events here especially in the Indian Basketball Society League. She now powers the American University of Sharjah and the last major basketball event she took part was in the Euro Camillas Inter University Championship in Spain in 2014. She is fortunate that her parents encourage her all the way in her sports and academics pursuits, especially her father Mohammed Hamid who is always at hand to assist her when the going gets tough.
“Despite her rigorous programme at the university she manages to take out time for training and as a parent I used to take her from the university at 6pm for practice at the ICC Academy at Dubai Sports City and then drop her back at the university at 9pm so that she could complete her project work,” said Hamid. “She is a very strong willed person and passionate in helping others, and totally dedicated to what she does.”
“The Qatar tournament was well organised and all of us are grateful to the faith put in us by the coaching staff and officials of the Emirates Cricket Board. They are very supportive and they believed in our abilities all the way,” said Humaira.