AUS wins big at second Manipal Sports Festival

The second Manipal Sports Festival, held December 15-19 at Manipal University in Dubai, was a huge success for the 11 participating AUS sports teams. Of the 11 teams, four teams reached the semifinals, two teams won second place, and the men's and women's basketball, men's table tennis and women's volleyball teams won first place.

As it was the second tournament in three weeks for some teams like men's and women's badminton, table tennis, and men's chess, it was yet another opportunity for these teams to grab attention with some solid performances. For men's and women's table tennis the results mirrored those that were put in for the BITS Sports Festival three weeks earlier as the women's table tennis team again achieved second place and again the men's table tennis team won the championship easily defeating Middlesex University in the finals.

For the men's and women's basketball and volleyball programs it was an opportunity to close out an already action packed Fall semester on a high note. In their first official action since the EuroRoma tournament a little over a month ago, all four teams performed really well to reach the finals of their respective tournaments, especially the women's basketball team as it put up one of the most dominant defensive performances in the history of the Manipal Sports Festival. In a total of three games, the Leopards gave only 25 total points to their opponents, including in the championship game where they won by the overwhelming score of 70-2!

The men's basketball team also performed well, winning all three of their games by at least 15 points to lift the trophy. Men's and women's volleyball did well as the men reached the final before falling to University of Sharjah to earn second place. The women did extremely well enroute to winning the championship, winning both of their matches 2-0 in overall sets after receiving a bye straight to the semi-finals.

Dr. Moza Al Shehhi, Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs, congratulated AUS student athletes who participated in the event. She said she was proud of the student athletes and all they have accomplished this semester not only on the court or field, but also off of it, maintaining a successful balance between academics and athletics.

During the closing ceremony, Dr. Mohamed Helal, Director of the Student Athletics and Recreation department, expressed how impressed he was with the overall performance of the AUS sports teams and gave credit to the coaches of the respective teams for the great job they have been doing to get the university's program to this level.

Manipal University athletics coordinator Krishna Kumar gave special praise to the AUS Leopards as leaders in the university sports community and for their overall performance at the event.