Ethiopians and Moroccans dominate in NAS Ramadan Sports 10k road race

Ethiopians and Moroccans stole the limelight at the 10k road race held as part of the 3rd Nad Al Sheba (NAS) Ramadan Sports Tournament at the NAS Sports Complex on Friday night.

The international male category was dominated by runners from Ethiopia as they made a clean sweep of the top three positions, while two of the top three spots in the women’s category also went to runners from Ethiopia.

Ethiopian runners also finished at the top in the Expat Female category for athletes based in the UAE while winning the first and third spots, while Moroccan runners were in a league of their own winning all three places in the Expat Male category.

Ashenafi Moges Weldegiorgis led the Ethiopian clean sweep in the International Male category with a time of 30.09 minutes followed by Lema Birbirsa Tola (30.13) and Hafte Berhe Kahsay (30.20).

In the International Female category, Ethiopia’s Mihret Tefera Adhena took the top prize with a time of 35.50 minutes, while her team-mate Aynalem Woldewariyat Woldemichael was second in 35.52 minutes followed by Morocco’s Malika Asahssah in third with a time of 36.14 minutes.

More than 900 runners participated in Friday’s road race that was held in eight different categories. The race was flagged off near the Falcon Heritage Centre in Meydan and finished at the NAS Sports Complex.

Held under the patronage of Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of the Dubai Sports Council (DSC), this year’s tournament is being held in six different sports disciplines including Futsal, Volleyball, a 10km road run, a 70km cycling race, wheelchair basketball and archery.

On Friday, Sheikh Hamdan increased the prize money for the 10k road race to Dh2 million from its initial total of ADh1.67 million. The total amount for the entire NAS Ramadan Sports Tournament has now gone up to more than Dh8 million for the various winners.

Results

International Male: 1. Ashenafi Moges Weldegiorgis (Ethiopia) 30.09 mins; 2. Lema Birbirsa Tola (Ethiopia) 30.13; 3. Hafte Berhe Kahsay (Ethiopia) 30.20.

International Female: 1. Mihret Tefera Adhena (Ethiopia) 35.50; 2. Aynalem Woldewariyat Woldemichael (Ethiopia) 35.52; 3. Malika Asahssah (Morocco) 36.14.

Social Emirati Male: 1. Mattar Ahmed Abdullah Al Muhaii (38.48); 2. Osama Saeed Ahmed Saeed (38.50); 3. Ali Saif Al Kaabi (38.53).

Social Emirati Female: 1. Sarah Faraidooni (56.07); 2. Maryam Ahmed Ali Eisa (1:03.23); 3. Basma Ahmed Ali Eisa (1:03.23).

Elite Emirati Male: 1. Mubarak Rashid Hassan Ahmed (32.23); 2. Obaid Mohammed Obaid Al Nuaimi (32.26); 3. Ali Khalifa Hamad Saeed Al Wahshi (33.29).

Elite Emirati Female: 1. Alya Yousuf Abdullah Ibrahim Al Hammadi (59.17); 2. Wedad Ibrahim Mohammed Ghuloom Robari (1:08.03); 3. Alya Fuad Abdullah Khamis Al Memari (1:08.05).

Expat Male: 1. Anouar El Ghoz (Morocco) 31.07; 2. Ibrahim Slimani (Morocco) 31.22; 3. Ihya Ben Youssef (Morocco) 31.43.

Expat Female: 1. Elisa Kure Tolosa (Ethiopia) 30.04; 2. Latifa Essarokh (France) 39.17; 3. Belainesh Yami Gurmu (Ethiopia) 40.02.

 

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