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Abu Dhabi: Egypt's 19-year-old second seed Tarek Momen won the squash title while Al Ain women emerged volleyball champions in the Dh10 million Armed Forces Officers Club's Ramadan Sports Festival.
Al Ain defeated Al Qahira (Egypt) 25/18, 22/25, 25/23 and 25/19 in a thrilling final.
The match was attended by Shaikh Abdullah Bin Mohammad Bin Khalid Al Nahyan, member of the honorary board of Al Ain club and Mohammad Khalfan Al Rumaithi, vice-president of the UAE soccer league, head of the executive committee of the Al Ain club along with other top AFOC officials.
Earlier, Momen pulled off an 11-9, 7-11, 11-2, 11-5 win over fellow countryman and top seed Omar Abdel Aziz in the squash final.
Ranked 55th in the world, six places below Omar, Momen dazzled past his senior and was in top form in the third and fourth games.
Momen, who was third in last year's Junior World Open under-19 event, took full advantage of an offday by his playing partner Omar as a packed AFOC courts watched.
Momen won the first game and this brought out the best from Omar in the second. However, Omar challenged his younger opponent drop for drop and though he won to level at 1-1, he seemed to run out of steam in the remainder of the match.
Momen then made no mistake as he won the last two games easily top carry home the top prize. It was an exhibition of some touch play mixed with power and Momen was a popular champion.
In the match for third place unseeded Hussain Al Masry defeated third seed Amr Swelim 11-6, 4-11, and 11-5. "I am happy to win this event. Some of the top players from Egypt and Pakistan were here and some of the matches were very tough," said Momen, promising to come back next year to defend his title.
For Omar, who only a fortnight back had secured his fourth professional title in Kuala Lumpur at the NSC 1 Star No. 1 Championships, a five-game semifinal also seemed to add to his fitness woes.
Results: Squash Semifinals: Omar Abdel Aziz (Egy) bt. Hussain Al Masry (Egy) 12-14, 11-8, 8-11, 11-2 and 11-7; Tarek Momen (Egy) bt. Amr Swelim (Egy) 7-11, 11-5, 11-5 and 11-8. Third place play-off (Best of three): Hussain Al Masry bt Amr Swelim 11-6, 4-11, 11-5
Final: No. 2 seed Tarek Momen bt No. 1 seed Omar Abdel Aziz 11-9, 7-11, 11-2, 11-5
Al Ain ISC rally to overcome Adso
New entrants India Social Centre, Al Ain rallied to score a 18-25, 25-15, 25-22 and 25-20 win over Abu Dhabi Office Supplies (Adso) as both teams advanced to the semifinal of the 13th Jimmy George Memorial Ramadan Volleyball tournament hosted by the Kerala Social Centre here.
With the second straight win, ISC-Al Ain will now meet Geo Electricals in the first semifinal while Adso take on three-time champions Ahalia Exchange in the second semifinal.
Indian junior international V. K. Ansar and Indian internationals V.M. Vijesh, Sunil Kumar and T.P. Sayouj combined effectively for the winners while former Indian star Tom Joseph and current India players Sube Singh and Mandeep Singh ensured Al Ain had to work hard for victory.
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