Today's Edition
ABU DHABI (ALETIHAD)
The dance floor took centre stage at the Games of the Future Abu Dhabi, powered by ADNOC, being held at the ADNEC Centre, where Ivan Vlasov emerged as the winner at the end of a carnival of colour and coordinated leg movements. He won the Phygital Dancing trophy out of a field of 16 shortlisted participants and the largest slice of a $50,000 prize pool set for the discipline.
Held under the patronage of President His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the inaugural event features 11 disciplines and demonstrates how sport and technology converge to create engrossing, elite competition.
Cheered on by fans, young and old, inside the Concourse, each competitor was tasked with displaying meticulous choreography and competitive flair in a bid to outscore their opponent and progress to the grand finale. After 30 rounds, Vlasov clinched the victory over Tiago Silva, scoring an exceptional total of 13,332 points for accuracy, style and rhythm from a potential 13,333.
“This was 10 hours of back-to-back competitions,” the winner, Vlasov, said. “I am shocked, tired, excited – so many emotions. I was introduced to Just Dance many years ago at my friend’s birthday party, and what a journey it has been since then. I am honoured to have participated here, and I want to thank my trainer for all the effort she has put in. I wouldn’t be here without her.”
Meanwhile, in the quarter-finals of Phygital Football, Troncos showed once more how this week’s event is bringing the digital and physical worlds together. After losing to RFSO Lokomotiv 0-1 in an eight-minute digital match, Troncos scored twice in the space of 10 minutes in the physical five-a-side stage to take the win 2-1 and book their place in the final four.
Troncos goalkeeper, Eloy Hervas, said that even when trailing after the digital match, his club was always confident about their abilities on the pitch. “Lokomotiv is a very strong team, but we have so many strong players who can crush it,” he said. “In digital, we know we are not the best, but I believe that in real football, nobody here is better, so we never get too worried even if we are losing after the digital match.”
Troncos will face Z10 after the latter also proved superior as a physical unit. Z10 are yet to win a digital contest, but they followed a 0–0 draw against CM Jardim with a comfortable 3–0 victory on the five-a-side pitch.
The other semi-final will see Mexico Quetzales Armadillos – who beat CM Stars 1-0 in a tight encounter – take on La Crema FC, who left it to the final 10 seconds of the physical game to score the decisive goal that saw them overcome Peñarol 3-4 overall.
The fourth day of action also determined the semi-finals of the Phygital Basketball.3on3 FreeStyle, powered by M42. In the first quarter-final of the day, PBC Astana defeated FlashBasket 25-27 in front of a vocal crowd to set up a semi-final with Liga Pro, who had comprehensively defeated Great Team Brazil 39-22.
The other semi-final will feature Adria All Stars and Moscowsky after they defeated G-UNIT and Interstellars, respectively. “The pressure is always there, but we’ll try to stay focused,” said Paulo Kuseta of Adria All Stars after helping his club to a 34–21 victory. “We know Moscowsky are very tough opponent, but we’ll try to go hard and see what happens. Who is better is most likely going to win.”
In MOBA Mobile.MLBB tournament, Dian Feng Yao Guai (DFYG) continued their dominance. After beating Team Vamos in a tightly contested series, they showed their skill and teamwork under pressure to overcome RRQ Hoshi. They now meet Aurora Gaming PH, who beat Team Spirit earlier in the day. Kenneth Marcello of DFYG said, “We didn’t expect to win because they are one of the top teams. The semi-finals will be even harder, so we need to prepare more and, as always, show super respect to our opponents.”
