Photos by Kader Hadri & Luke Kelly (Fisheye)

Well well well. Another year, another eS game of skate! Thanks to the good people at Emaar, we hosted the game at Dubai Mall. The event was supposed to start at 2pm, but due to a few stragglers we started a little later. Names were drawn out a hat, so the match-ups varied. Some got blasted out straight away and some stretched out their arsenal of tricks to progress. Surprise contender was Karim Nassar who came out of nowhere with a barrage of tech tricks…

The highlight of the event had to be the epic battle between the titans of the Dubai skate scene, Evan vs Maysam, who had everyone on the edge of their seat/skateboard and both contenders scratching their heads for new tricks to out do each other. After landing each set trick, it became obvious that it was going to be a tough competition. The antithesis of all this drama had to be Doug Martin. Doug turned up late, no warm up, cup of coke in his hand and decides to join the comp just before we start. In his relaxed and bi-spectacled style, he somehow chewed his way through the competition with ease to win. Something does have to be said about his final competitor Karim. Mid way through the finals Karim snapped his board, which forced him to use a new board he was not so used to. Ah well, better luck next year everyone!

Good luck Dougie Fresh and enjoy the éS European Finals of the Game of S.K.A.T.E this September in Paris!

Here’s an interview with Doug we conducted with him while he came by the office today to get his plane ticket hooked up…