St Mary’s Catholic School beat strong competition to be crowned champions of American University in Dubai’s (AUD) School Sports Challenge.

With 23 schools across the UAE entered in the event where children aged between 13 and 17-years-old competed in football, athletics, swimming and basketball, it certainly provided closely-fought duels.

St Mary’s pupils, who triumphed in both the boys and girls volleyball categories, not only get the trophy, but one person from the Dubai school team will also be given an athletics scholarship at AUD when they are ready for college.

There were some stand-out performances with International School of Choueifat Abu Dhabi’s Ahmed Mansoor and Sarah Abdou of Al Mawakeb School winning four golds in the freestyle, butterfly, backstroke and breastroke events.

With 1,500 promising athletes showcasing their sporting abilities in the fifth edition of the tournament, AUD athletics director Miso Pancetovic was impressed by what he saw.

“The athletes were competing to the maximum and they showed amazing talent. I was blown away by their abilities,” he said.

“The AUD School Sports Challenge has grown year on year to become one of the leading sports events for school students across the UAE.

“We want to make this bigger and better in the future.”