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Dubai: The UAE beach volleyball team beat Finland 2-0 in the SWATCH FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour 08 at the Jumeirah Beach Park.
Rashid Ayoub and Ahmad Hasan beat the Finish duo Tuomaala and Aijo to win the match (17-21, 21-16 and 15-10).
However The UAE duo lost their first match in the tournament to Venzuelan pair Fane and Hernandez 2-0 (21-14 and 21-19).
In another match on Wednesday, Abdullau Mattar and Ahmad Omar lost to the Venzuelan duo 2-0 (21-10 and 21-12).
The UAE duo Ayoub and Hasan showed a fighting spirit in coming back after losing the first set against the Finland team which saw them to score the first victory for the UAE.
The other UAE team of Ahmad Obaid and Rashid Al Marbahani lost to the British duo Grotowski and Weaver 2-0 (21-14 and 21-14).
Mohammad Abdul Karim Jalfar, president of the UAE Volleyball Association, said he was pleased with the start of the tournament.
"I take this opportunity to thank all the participating teams from different parts of the World who contributed in making it a great success," said Jalfar on Wednesday.
He added they would request that the International Volleyball Federation FIVB host next year's tour in Dubai.
"We will ask the FIVB to host the 2009 tour in Dubai and I am sure it will be successful like the one which is running now at Jumeirah Beach Park."
Annual event
The president said they would ask the FIVB to make the tour an annual event in Dubai.
"This will be decided by the FIVB after they will discuss the report of the current tour and I am sure they will agree to make Dubai a regular organiser like other cities from different countries," he said.
Jalfar said that Angelo Skyo, the manager of the beach volleyball in the FIVB, would arrive in Dubai on Friday to attend the final.
He said: "I will hold a meeting with him to discuss our request to hold annually the tour in Dubai and I think if the FIVB agreed for that it will be a big boost for the beach volleyball in the UAE and the region.
"Also I will discuss with him the establishing of the International Centre to develop beach volleyball in the West Asian countries which will play a significant role in spreading wide and developing the beach volleyball standard in the West Asian countries."
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