Under the patronage of H.H. Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of Dubai Executive Council, the ZU basketball team participated in the Basketball World Cup for universities which took place recently in Milan, Italy, being the first participation for the GCC universities in this World Cup.
Dr. Sulaiman AlJassim, Vice-President of Zayed University, praised the patronage of H.H. Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum of this international championship, as it encourages students to compete in international events and acquire expertise, pointing out that the ZU basketball team has reached an advanced level in local and regional contests winning the first place in the UAE universities championship in basketball last year, an annual event organized by the UAE Sports Federation for universities and higher education institutions.
Dr. AlJassim said that Zayed University is keen on participating in the various local, regional and international sports events, in line with the strategy of the University aimed at developing the skills and abilities of students. The University, the vice-president also noted, provides opportunities for students to practice in the dedicated sports halls of the University campuses of Dubai and Abu Dhabi, where extensive training and rehabilitation programs are followed up by specialists to enable students participate in local and international tournaments and competitions.
For her part, Mrs. Noora Khalid Al Qassim, Chairman of the ZU basketball team for Zayed University students explained that the participation in this international event was an opportunity for the ZU team to acquire new skills in basketball as the team aspires to win the Universities' championship competition in 2010 to maintain their title, and compete for the first place in the UAE Ladies Basketball championship, after they won the third place last year, pointing out that the team is preparing some of its members to join the ladies basketball national team.
We note that the ZU team participated to this event with teams from Italy, Lebanon, Iran and Belgium in the Qualifying World Cup in Italy and hopes to participate in next year's World Cup in Spain. The team players (Aya Ali ,Azza Abdul Aziz Al Nuaimi, Buthaina Al-Marri, Fatima Mohammed, Mona Faris, Nora Khalid Al Qassim, - Nof Abdul Redha Ali, Rawdha Saeed Beljafla, Sarah Saud Al Qassimi, Shama Darwish,) along with their coach Wissam AlShanoufi have expressed their deepest thanks and appreciation to H.H. Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum for his patronage of the team's participation in this international tournament, which reflects His Highness support for sports and young athletes.
