JEDDAH, 22 September 2006 — Fourteen-year-old Marwan Assad of Al-Andalus school stole the limelight with his quick, alert and spirited moves at the 1st Jeddah United Junior Back to School Basketball Tournament that ended here yesterday.

Marwan, who captained his Green Team, won the Best Player award aside from the championship trophy for his team. Along with teammates Abdulmajeed Hashim, Ahmad Qattan and Abdulaziz Zaidan, all in the 11-14 age group, they won the final 22-8.

“Give me even weak players and I can make a winning team,” a confident Marwan said.

Runner-up Blue Team included Ibrahim Abudawood, 13, and Abdulkareem Abudawood, 14, both of Dar Al Fikr school, and Hussein Angawi, 10, and Yousef Hashim, 12, both of Al-Andalus school.

Red Team took third place, with Siraj Attar, 13, and Faisal Sarhan, 14, both of Al-Andalus school, Abdullah Lourey, 12, of Al-Thaghar school, and Qusai Assad, 12, of Jeddah Private School.

In fourth place was Yellow Team consisting of Hisham Attar, 12, of Jeddah private School, Mansoor Madani, 13, of AISJ, and Y. Murad, 12, both of Dar Al Fikr school.

Referees Amin Bahartha, Waleed Rashwan and Ezzuddin Haddad said they were impressed by the standard of the game. “It was an amazing tournament and such events will help in finding potential talents. Of course, Marwan was outstanding,” Amin said.

Earlier, the 8-11 age group final was clinched by a team consisting of Ryan Islam, 11, Ayman Islam, 6, and Kusai Marzouki, 12, all of House of Knowledge School, and Makram Housseini, 6, of Continental School.

“I’ve been playing basketball for the past six years at school and was excited to play in this tournament,” Ryan said. Both Kusai and Ayman said they had developed a tremendous liking for this sport and so were looking forward to the event.

Boys who played the game for the first time said they were very much exposed to football and so were keen to take part in the tournament, which had some preliminary rounds on Wednesday. “This was a new experience for us,” said one of them.

Parents who sat through the various rounds for two days said it was a spirited display by the boys. “We wish to thank Jeddah United for organizing the tournament and involving families. It was a pleasure watching our boys play the game,” Noha Hazzam said.

The organizers said that Jeddah United’s objective was to promote basketball and other sports as well as exercise and fitness programs. “Our efforts will be directed toward promoting basketball in particular and staging training sessions and tournaments in general,” Lina Almaeena said.

The organizers, who also included Hazma Alireza, Dania and Sara Almaeena, Rabia Abdullah, Maha Binladin and Rania Zahran, said Jeddah United had been newly established with a view to influencing children with a lifestyle that suited the Kingdom’s culture and tradition.

“We want to promote basketball in particular, as it inculcates team spirit, self-control and discipline that demonstrate Islamic values,” Lina said. “In all our programs for the kids, we promote a healthy lifestyle and fitness programs that can have a positive impact on our young generation. Above all, we aim to encourage our boys to become a professional team at national level.”

The event had the assistance of local and US professional coaches including coach Omar Abdul Salam. Omar Bill was the timekeeper.

Supporting the tournament was McDonald’s as gold sponsor, and Toys R Us and Al-Mashi Shawarma as silver sponsors. Sports Bag distributed gift vouchers. Creative Circle-Jeddah United Advertising Agency also actively supported the tournament.

“We hope to make this an annual tournament as we find a lot of interest and enthusiasm among boys,” said Obaid Madani on behalf of the organizers.