ANWAR bin Al Munji scored a last-gasp goal to secure a thrilling 22-21 win for Bahrain’s Al Ahli club over Saudi Arabia’s Al Safa last night in their second Group B match of the 39th GCC Clubs Handball Tournament at the Khalifa Sports City Arena.
Al Ahli had entered the last minute of the game, leading by just one point at 21-20 and, with just 15 seconds to go, had managed to hold on to their lead.
But high drama and controversy were waiting to erupt as, with 13 seconds to go, Al Ahli’s Ahmed Faiq was ruled to have committed a deliberate foul on Al Safa’s Mohammed Altaweel in the Bahraini club’s penalty area after the two match referees reviewed the video footage.
Sikander Zaied stepped up to take the resulting free throw and deposited it into the left side of the net to enable Al Safa to draw level at 21-21 with only eight seconds left until the final buzzer.
Al Ahli coach Ali Al Anzoor immediately called a time-out and, when play resumed, Al Munji ran in from the right before unleashing a left-handed bullet throw that zipped past Al Safa goalkeeper Ali Aghanim to put Al Ahli ahead 22-21.
With just three seconds left on the clock, Alghanim, still sprawled on the floor after a despairing dive, threw the ball towards teammate Faisal Alquraish, who was sprinting down the middle of the court towards the Al Ahli goal.
Unfortunately, Al Munji, who was also running back to take up a defensive position, collided with Alquraish, just as the Al Safa player was about to catch the ball and the buzzer sounded to signal the end of the game at the same time.
Incensed at what they thought was a deliberate foul, the Al Safa players surrounded the two referees who, for the second time in less than a minute, consulted the TV replay only to confirm that the collision had, indeed, been accidental.
With their victory officially confirmed, the Al Ahli players and their supporters, who had packed the stands, celebrated wildly while the Al Safa players and officials continued to remonstrate with tournament officials.
Earlier, the second half began with Al Ahli leading 10-7 after a competitive first period and, 15 minutes later, the Bahraini club had managed to cling on to their three-point lead with the scoreboard reading 17-14.
But, when the game entered its final 10 minutes, Al Ahli’s lead had been reduced to just one point, at 18-17, and eventually ended up becoming the slimmest of winning margins as the final moments of a memorable match exploded with high emotions and drama.
The crucial victory means that Al Ahli are still in contention for a slot in the semi-finals with the two points accruing from this win putting them in second place on the four-team table, behind Al Kuwait, who have four points, and ahead of Al Safa and the UAE’s Al Sharjah, who have one point each.
Al Ahli will now play Al Sharjah tomorrow at 7pm in a must-win game, while Al Al Safa will face off against Al Kuwait earlier in the day in another crucial clash.
Meanwhile, defending champions Al Najma will play Qatar’s Al Arabi in a mouthwatering top-of-the-table Group A encounter at 7pm tonight.
Both teams have four points each after winning their opening two games and are already through to the semi-finals but the winner of tonight’s game will top the table and play the second-placed side in Group B.
Oman’s Ahli Sidab and Kuwait’s Al Salmaniya, who languish at the bottom of the Group A table after having lost two games each, will play each other in an earlier game, which starts at 5pm.
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