Dubai Basketball's magnificent debut season in the Adriatic Basketball Association (ABA) shows no sign of slowing down following a thrilling 86-85 play-off victory over Slovenia’s Cedevita Olimpija on Sunday.
In Game 1 of the best-of-three quarter-final tussle in front of a near sold-out crowd at the Coca Cola Arena, just one point separated the two teams with Dubai edging the sixth-seeded Slovenians.
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, was present for the victory which stretched the home side's win streak to an impressive 14 matches.
Dubai now travel to the Stozice Arena in Ljubljana on Friday for Game 2 looking to maintain a run that helped end the regular season in third place with a 25-5 record.
They finished just one point behind table-topping Buducnost and Partizan in second with Cedevita Olimpija down in sixth.
The last time Jurica Golemac's team were beaten was against Cedevita Olimpija – also by one point – back in January making Sunday's victory even sweeter.
“This was a real play-off game. We had everything,” said Dubai's Slovenian head coach Golemac.
“We were down three times and kept coming back. We never gave up, despite all the problems and everything that happened.”
Dubai’s American guard Nate Mason set the tone with an early jump shot and went on to deliver a standout performance, finishing with 18 points and five assists.
He was named player of the match, sharing top-scorer honours with captain Klemen Prepelic.
“There was no moment where we thought we were out of this. It was all about passion and hard work,” Prepelic said.
“We’ve worked all season to earn this home-court advantage – and tonight we played with pride. The fans were incredible, and I think that energy pushed us. Everyone’s fighting for each other, and that passion showed on the floor.”
Next up for the UAE side is a trip to Slovenia where victory will seal a semi-final spot; lose and the series goes down to a deciding match in Dubai on May 20.
“We protected our home court, which we earned throughout the season,” added Golemac. “Now we’re going there to finish it.”
Before Sunday's game, Golemac had made clear that while reaching the play-offs despite only being together for 10 months can be considered an achievement, the team was hungry for more success.
“It's a new challenge for us now; we are not giving up, we are not satisfied with this, what we did until now. We are a very ambitious side,” said Golemac, a former coach at Cedevita Olimpija.
“We want to show everybody the results we have in the regular season … We can achieve a better one in the play-offs.
“We are healthy, we are full of ambitions, full of confidence, and with our fans behind us, we are ready to achieve great things.”
The language of diplomacy in 1853
Treaty of Peace in Perpetuity Agreed Upon by the Chiefs of the Arabian Coast on Behalf of Themselves, Their Heirs and Successors Under the Mediation of the Resident of the Persian Gulf, 1853
(This treaty gave the region the name “Trucial States”.)
We, whose seals are hereunto affixed, Sheikh Sultan bin Suggar, Chief of Rassool-Kheimah, Sheikh Saeed bin Tahnoon, Chief of Aboo Dhebbee, Sheikh Saeed bin Buyte, Chief of Debay, Sheikh Hamid bin Rashed, Chief of Ejman, Sheikh Abdoola bin Rashed, Chief of Umm-ool-Keiweyn, having experienced for a series of years the benefits and advantages resulting from a maritime truce contracted amongst ourselves under the mediation of the Resident in the Persian Gulf and renewed from time to time up to the present period, and being fully impressed, therefore, with a sense of evil consequence formerly arising, from the prosecution of our feuds at sea, whereby our subjects and dependants were prevented from carrying on the pearl fishery in security, and were exposed to interruption and molestation when passing on their lawful occasions, accordingly, we, as aforesaid have determined, for ourselves, our heirs and successors, to conclude together a lasting and inviolable peace from this time forth in perpetuity.
Taken from Britain and Saudi Arabia, 1925-1939: the Imperial Oasis, by Clive Leatherdale
On racial profiling at airports
Pots for the Asian Qualifiers
Pot 1: Iran, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, China
Pot 2: Iraq, Uzbekistan, Syria, Oman, Lebanon, Kyrgyz Republic, Vietnam, Jordan
Pot 3: Palestine, India, Bahrain, Thailand, Tajikistan, North Korea, Chinese Taipei, Philippines
Pot 4: Turkmenistan, Myanmar, Hong Kong, Yemen, Afghanistan, Maldives, Kuwait, Malaysia
Pot 5: Indonesia, Singapore, Nepal, Cambodia, Bangladesh, Mongolia, Guam, Macau/Sri Lanka
More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
PROFILE OF SWVL
Started: April 2017
Founders: Mostafa Kandil, Ahmed Sabbah and Mahmoud Nouh
Based: Cairo, Egypt
Sector: transport
Size: 450 employees
Investment: approximately $80 million
Investors include: Dubai’s Beco Capital, US’s Endeavor Catalyst, China’s MSA, Egypt’s Sawari Ventures, Sweden’s Vostok New Ventures, Property Finder CEO Michael Lahyani
Nayanthara: Beyond The Fairy Tale
Starring: Nayanthara, Vignesh Shivan, Radhika Sarathkumar, Nagarjuna Akkineni
Director: Amith Krishnan
Rating: 3.5/5
The President's Cake
Director: Hasan Hadi
Starring: Baneen Ahmad Nayyef, Waheed Thabet Khreibat, Sajad Mohamad Qasem
Rating: 4/5
Du Football Champions
The fourth season of du Football Champions was launched at Gitex on Wednesday alongside the Middle East’s first sports-tech scouting platform.“du Talents”, which enables aspiring footballers to upload their profiles and highlights reels and communicate directly with coaches, is designed to extend the reach of the programme, which has already attracted more than 21,500 players in its first three years.
