Organisers of the 9th Dubai Corporate Games celebrated record numbers as Al Tayer Group were crowned overall champions, topping the table with a total of eight gold medals.

A record 2,780 participants represented 57 companies and organisations at the Games and it was Al Tayer Group who managed to dethrone PepsiCo as the overall best-performing company.

Most sports were hosted at the American University in Dubai, while the dragon boat races took place at the Dubai Internet City lake and the golf competition was played at Emirates Golf Club.

Karting was added for the first time with 184 drivers competing at Dubai Kartdrome.

Omar Mukashar led a medal sweep for Choueiri Group in the men’s category, while Morine Thomas from Nestle was fastest in the women’s category.

“This was our ninth year organising the Dubai Corporate Games and it’s been held every year without fail,” Bahi Rifai of organisers High Five Events told Sport360°. “This was our biggest so far and we’re very pleased that we had a record number of participants and companies.

“We actually had to turn down some companies because given the time and space this is what we could deliver. We also had to use a second cricket venue because we had such a high number of entries (48).”

A wide range of sports were contested including football, squash, tennis, table tennis, swimming, tug of war, athletics, basketball, volleyball, cricket and golf.

“We’re focused on promoting sports and outdoor activities. We started this nine years ago and at the time corporate sports games were almost nonexistent,” added Rifai.