VOLLEYBALL – BAHRAIN’S Dar Kulaib will play for the gold medals in the fourth Wava Men’s Clubs Volleyball Championship, currently being held in Kuwait City.
Dar Kulaib secured their place in the title-decider of the West Asia Volleyball Association (Wava) tournament after sweeping past fellow-Bahraini outfit Al Ahli 3-0 (25-17, 25-21, 25-13) with a dominant semi-final performance.
Dar Kulaib will next lock horns with Al Rayyan of Qatar in a mouth-watering final, set to be played tomorrow. It is scheduled for a 5pm start, and it will be preceded by the bronze medal contest between Ahli and hosts Kuwait Sports Club at 3pm.
Rayyan battled past Kuwait 3-1 (25-21, 23-25, 25-22, 25-20) in last night’s other semi-final to book their ticket to the gold medal game.
Dar Kulaib were spearheaded in the contest by their professional duo of Enock Mogeni from Kenya and Murad Jehan from Pakistan, while they also had timely contributions from their star Bahraini talents Hasan Alwarqaa, Mahmoud Abdulwahed, Abbas Abdulla, Ali Habib, and Hassan Alaiwi, to name a few.
Guided by head coach Ivan Joksimovic from Montenegro, they are aiming for their first medal in the Wava event. They also took part in its inaugural edition, held in 2023 in Jordan, where they came one spot shy of the podium after finishing third.
Ahli, coached by Renato Castro from Brazil, had the services of Bahraini stars Ali Ebrahim, Mohammed Anan, Sayed Mohammed Alabbar, Mahmood Abdulhussain, Hani Alawi, Hasan Haider, Ayman Harwana, among others, but were outplayed in the match.
They will now be looking to emulate their bronze-medal finish from the last edition of the tournament, which was hosted by the kingdom last year.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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