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VIDEO: Leeds family on a roll...world marbles champs again
A PASSION out of Africa has led a Leeds family to be crowned world champions – for the second year running.
Mourad Kara first got the marbles bug as a little boy in Algeria and now his family have joined him to defend their British & World Marble Championships title.
Dr Kara, of Chapel Allerton, said: "It's fantastic that we won the championship again and we're really, really pleased.
"When we won last year, it was a bit of a surprise, but returning to defend our title is a lot more nerve-wracking. We definitely felt the pressure.
"It was a tense competition but we were quite confident and we managed to deliver on the day."
Dr Kara founded The Yorkshire Meds five years ago after re-discovering his passion for marbles. His teammates are wife Leila, son Aziz, 16, father-in-law Akil Tata, brother-in-law Halim Tata and family friend Bob Croft.
They scooped the team trophy and Halim, 38, the individual trophy for the second year in a row.
They first entered the championships – held every Good Friday at the Greyhound Inn near Crawley, West Sussex – in 2004 after reading about it in a book.
Akil, 68, flies over from Algeria every year for the contest, while the family practice furiously for six weeks before the competition, notching up between 17 and 20 hours of training each week.
Dr Kara added: "Halim is an outstanding player and I always think it's better to have one or two outstanding players and the rest good players. But people have to enjoy it, because otherwise there's no point. The main purpose is getting friends and family together and having fun."
A total of 18 teams competed in this year's games.
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Weather for Leeds
Friday 25 May 2012
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Temperature: 10 C to 23 C
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