Emirati Zahra al Hosani defeated by Hungarian in Under 20 Girls' Abu Dhabi Fencing Championship
Hungary’s Rita Tarnallyay defeated Fatima Zahra al Hosani from United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the final bout of the Under 20 Girls' Abu Dhabi Fencing Championship by 15-9, the capital state of UAE this week.
The 16-year-old was not disheartened by her defeat in the inaugural championship, as she considers it to be her one-step ahead towards representing UAE in the forthcoming 2012 London Olympics.
Fatima was very happy with her performance and said, "This is only my second competition ever after training for five years, and I'm very happy with what I achieved today," she said. "It is a very small step forward for my dream of representing my country
in the Olympics, God willing."
She trounced three opponents for qualifying into the final round, where she met up the Hungarian.
Al-Hosani believes that reaching up to the final was a huge achievement. More of such competitions are required to be held for a build-up. She explained that apart from her, many other Emirati girls had participated in the event and enjoyed it, regardless
of the winning.
"I train for 90 minutes, five days a week, and now I feel I must participate in more competition. That's the only way to get motivated and also to know how much I have progressed. I had a great day in Abu Dhabi and I hope there will be more such competitions,
not only in Abu Dhabi but all over the UAE," added Al-Hosani.
The Hungarian belonged to the Gems World Academy in Dubai, who is likely to continue with the sport, once she returns from her native country.
Tanallyay had taken home a trophy for the second time, with her last victory in a Dubai competition in 2009.
The Hungarian stated that since her last competition, she had to wait for another fencing event for quite a long time and that the final was a tough fight against Fatima.
Tanallyay shared that she took up the sport from her neighbours, back in Hungary and was fortunate to find a fencing school to continue it in Dubai too.
According to her, she has plans to go back and continue participating in competitions in Hungary.
In the Under-13 competition finals, two colleagues, Irini Vanzijderveld Paipai and Sophie Rizk, fought against each other, representing the Mihail Kozer Fencing Academy in Dubai, Irini won by a score of 15-9.
This ten-year old fencer from the Jumeirah Primary School, Dubai clinched a total of three gold medals in all her three appearances in a fencing competition.
Irini said that she watched the sport on TV and was interested to play in it. With her mother’s support, she started it as a hobby.
This event was organised and conducted with the collaborative efforts of UAE Fencing Federation and the Abu Dhabi Sports Council.
The competition featured two age-groups as U-20 and U-13. The Physical Education head of the Family Development Foundation, Khawla al Muhairi informed that a total of 75 entries were received for both the disciplines of the event.
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