Sports aces descended upon UAE in 2014 to showcase talents

As the year came to a close, badminton added its own footprint on the sands of Dubai with $1million MetLife BWF Destination Dubai World Superseries Finals held at the iconic Hamdan Sports Complex.

Dubai – The past 12 months have seen an array of the best and biggest sports stars on the planet descend upon the UAE to showcase their talents once again.

Rory McIlroy and Phil Mickelson were among the big names to contest the ninth Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship back in January.

But, they had to settle for joint second place in the national capital as Spaniard Pablo Larrazabal’s 14-under par 274 proved sufficient to prevail by one stroke.

McIlroy made a swift return to Emirati soil to contest the 25th Omega Dubai Desert Classic alongside another modern-day great in 14-time major winner Tiger Woods.

It was the defending champion Stephen Gallacher, of Scotland, though who retained the trophy, thereby becoming the first person to do so in a quarter of a century.

Arjun Atwal.

Photo by Mukesh Kamal/ Khaleej Times

Henrik Stenson joined Gallacher by doing the double in Dubai at the DP World Tour Championship - one of three season-ending events on the men’s circuit staged in the emirate now alongside the Asian Tour (Dubai Open) and European Challenge Tour (Dubai Festival City Challenge Tour Grand Final) equivalents.

The Asian Golf Tour’s returned to the shores of Dubai after almost 17 years was hugely successful with the Golf in Dubai rolling out red carpet treatment to the Tour members at The Els Club. Arjun Atwal ended his long title wait to lift the Dubai Open trophy as the Mena Golf Tour invitees left their own mark on the event with 11 out of 24 making the cut.

The another climactic finale, the Omega Dubai Ladies Masters, England’s Charley Hull came away from the campaign with the ISPS Handa Order of Merit and Amy Boulden, of Wales, the Rookie of the Year accolade on the Ladies European Tour.

The Dubai Tour made its inaugural appearance in this emirate in February, when the USA’s Taylor Phinney claimed the much-coveted blue jersey as the general classification winner. Marcel Kittel, of Germany, impressively sped away to three sprint successes at the very same event.

Like Phinney’s prior coronation, an American also won the women’s event at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, although it wasn’t to be the Williams sister most were expecting to emerge victorious.

Venus Williams in DDF Championship.

Photo by Shihab/ Khaleej Times

With Serena’s run in the competition ended at the semifinal stages by Alize Cornet, elder sister Venus avenged that shock loss for her young sibling with a 6-3, 6-0 triumph in a one-sided final.

The men’s tournament was somewhat more predictable, with Swiss legend Roger Federer claiming a record sixth DDFTC crown courtesy of a 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 victory over two-time finalist Tomas Berdych.

The Indo-Pak Express of Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi were crowned the men’s doubles champions at the expense of Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic (6-4, 6-3), while Alla Kudryavtseva and Anastasia Rodionova just edged the women’s final against US duo Raquel Kops-Jones and Abigail Spears 6-2, 5-7, 10-8.

The US$10m Dubai World Cup rounded off the action for March, with Godolphin taking the spoils in the big feature race after Brazilian jockey Silvestre De Sousa piloted African Story to be first past the post.

Cricket and local football then took centre stage in April. The early encounters in the Indian Premier League (IPL) were successfully staged across Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah prior to an eventual return home after the general elections.

Al Ahli almost swept all before them in domestic football as the Red Knights came away with the Arabian Super Cup, the Arabian Gulf League and the Arabian Gulf Cup.

They were on course for an unprecedented quadruple at one stage, yet Al Ain ultimately prevented a clean sweep of the silverware.

Mohammed Ayed (3-green) of Al Shabab and Mirko Vucinic (9- red) of Al Jazira during their AGL tie.Photo by Dhes Handumon/ Khaleej Times

Dubai-based clubs Al Shabab and Al Nasr reached the semifinals and final of the GCC Champions League in May respectively, with the Blue Wave narrowly beating Oman’s Saham 2-1 to receive some regional recognition.

As the Arabian Gulf League took a break Al Jazira and Al Ain shared the top spot with 27 points while Shabab (26 points) and Al Wahda (25 points) are breathing down their neck. The league resumes in after the Asian Cup in Australia to be held from January 9.

The Netherlands’ Michael van Gerwen also proved his pedigree at the oche at the Dubai Duty Free Darts Masters, where he overcame Peter Wright 11-7 to make it back-to-back titles for the clinical Dutchman.

sports@khaleejtimes.com