Kuwait City, Kuwait, May 29, 2022: Amna Al-Mheiri and her United Arab Emirates teammates hadn’t eaten a full meal since noon as they wanted to be “light on our feet” for the women’s basketball 3x3 gold medal final against Kuwait, almost nine hours later on Sunday night, May 29.
And their hunger showed in a lean-and-mean performance as they dominated the final to defeat Kuwait 12-8, and lift the gold medal at the debut appearance for women’s basketball at the Gulf Games.
“I don’t care what I eat now, I’m so happy,” cried livewire Al-Mheiri who top-scored for the UAE with five points. “I can eat anything, whatever is put in front of me. I’m so hungry as we have just been nibbling on fruits and stuff since noon today. But it was all worth it.”
The UAE women dominated the two-day tournament, finishing unbeaten in the preliminaries winning all five matches, and then continuing the run in the semi-finals with a 14-12 victory over Saudi Arabia to reach the final.
Kuwait entered the final with a 14-10 victory over Bahrain in the other semi-final. The hosts lost only two matches in the entire tournament, both to the UAE, with the second defeat leaving the team in tears.
But they can take heart from the spirited performance, in particular from the diminutive Dalal Al-Hamad, the shortest girl in the tournament, who kept them in the contest almost single-handedly by scoring half of her team’s eight points.
This has been a memorable Games for the UAE who have ruled the courts in Kuwait. Earlier, the Emirati men’s team had won the gold medal in the regulation 5x5 version.
“We can’t believe we won it. Yes, we finished unbeaten on day one, but in this version, all it needs is one small slip-up and you can lose,”
Al-Mheiri said. “This is just amazing, to win the first gold medal for UAE women in basketball.”
The celebratory meal would have tasted so good for Al-Mheiri and her teammates – Amal Bin Haider, Fatima Abdallah and Alyazyia Al-Suwaidi – last night.
Meanwhile, Bahrain came from behind to edge past Saudi Arabia and take home the bronze medal with a 10-9 victory.
