The 10-week schedule of sports, tournaments, and academies at Dubai Sports World 2015 (DSW), the Middle East’s largest indoor sporting venue, drew to a close this week and in true sporting fashion, set new records. This year’s attendance was up 13% on 2014, with 198,625 people passing through the Dubai World Trade Centre gates.

Events, tournaments and appearances by star athletes including NBA stars Peja Stojakovic and Ricky Rubio, ex-professional cricketer Salil Ankola, professional footballer Madjid Bougherra, and local badminton star Mona Al Sahlawi, helped raise the bar in 2015 and made the fifth edition of DSW its most popular to date.

“It is encouraging to see a positive change in our society,” said the Trade Centre’s senior vice president of events, Ahmed Alkhaja.

“The increasing awareness of the importance of sports and healthy living is reflected in the significant rise in attendance at Dubai Sports World this year.

“Every year we set ourselves the challenge of adding more excitement and variety to DSW so that we can help more and more people stay active over the summer and we’re delighted to see those efforts pay off again this year.”

The facility’s multi-purpose arena covered more than 22,000m² of air-conditioned, indoor space and featured four five-a-side and seven-a-side pitches for football and rugby, four basketball courts, two tennis courts, six badminton courts, a cricket nets and a regulation-sized volleyball court.

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Alongside the multiple sports facilities, DSW also housed a skate-boarding and BMX Park, a state-of-the-art gym and an adventure park for little explorers.

The activities at DSW were complemented with world-class academies operated by IFA Sports, G-Force Cricket, RAGE Skate Park, Tennis 360, KAFO Academy, and Against GraviTi.

These academies enabled sports enthusiasts from all age groups to improve their game under the supervision of trained coaches and seasoned professionals.

DSW also hosted NBA stars Peja Stojakovic and Ricky Rubio who offered exclusive six-day training academy alongside certified FIBA coaches from 22-28 August to aspiring basketball players.