March 19th, 2015: The Canadian University Dubai (CUD) football team has taken the winner's trophy at the recent Gulf Medical University Sports Festival, held in Ajman.
Starting out with a convincing 6-0 victory against Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), the team progressed through the rounds to a nail-biting finale against the American University of Ras al Khaimah.
Following their tournament opener against RIT, the team was challenged with back to back games in tough weather conditions on day 2 of the competition. Beating hosts GMU on penalties, they moved into the semi-finals where they won 2-0 in a physical battle with Heriot Watt University.
Not long into the tournament final, the team was struck by disaster as right back Salah Iraqi took a tough challenge resulting in an injury that left them one man down. Buoyed by the loss of Salah, the team was even more determined to take the trophy, and after another physical game, came out on top as 1-0 winners to be crowned champions of the competition.
Mahmoud Al-Batta, goalkeeper and captain of the team said, "It was a tough competition throughout but when we lost Salah we really had to come together and draw on our team spirit. We were determined to take the trophy home for him and thankfully we managed to hang on and secure the win."
The tournament also saw success for the CUD men's basketball team who took the runners-up medals in their competition.
Gallery
