HANDBALL – BAHRAIN’S Al Najma suffered their second straight defeat yesterday in the 28th Asian Men’s Club League Handball Championship, currently being played in Sabah Al Salem, Kuwait.
The kingdom’s representatives went down fighting against Al Duhail from Qatar 25-29 in a tightly contested affair at Sheikh Saad Al Abdullah Al Salim Al Sabah Covered Halls Complex.
Najma and Duhail were tied at 23-apiece with a little over 10 minutes remaining in the second half, but the Bahrainis then conceded another six goals en route to the final buzzer while only scoring another two in a disappointing finish.
Despite the setback, Najma’s star veteran Mohammed Habib Ahmed was named Man of the Match having finished with a game-high 10 goals. He was presented with an award for his efforts after the game.
Yesterday’s result followed Najma’s opening-game defeat against hosts Kuwait Sports Club 26-30 on Sunday.
They still have four fixtures to play in the preliminary round of this seven-team Asian Handball Federation (AHF) tournament, but must start winning should they hope to advance to the semi-finals.
Following a rest day today, Najma resume their campaign against Sharjah SC from the UAE tomorrow evening at 8pm. They then face Al Arabi of Qatar on Thursday at 4pm before playing their penultimate fixture against Burgan SC of Kuwait on Friday at 4pm. Najma complete the preliminaries against Khaleej Club from Saudi Arabia on Sunday next week at 8pm. All times are Bahrain.
After this single round-robin, the top four teams on the standings move on to the last four, scheduled for Monday. The gold and bronze medal games will then be held on June 17.
This year’s Asian Men’s Club League Handball Championship also acts as a qualifier for the 19th IHF Men’s Handball Club World Championship, with the champions securing direct qualification for the International Handball Federation (IHF) competition, to be held in Egypt in October later this year.
In their loss yesterday, Najma got off to a brilliant start and three unanswered goals put them up 5-1. Mujtaba Al Zaimour was then on target to make it 10-4, but after Montenegro professional Radojica Cepic scored to put Najma ahead 13-7, Duhail went on a game-changing 5-0 surge that brought them back to within a goal.
The Qataris rode their momentum into the interval, forging a 15-all deadlock.
After the re-start, Duhail took control with a 6-2 spurt, sparked by a Rafael Capote goal from distance and capped by a fastbreak strike from Hamdi Hadj Ayed.
Najma tried to stay in the fight and goals from Mohammed Habib Ahmed and Hassan Al Samaheeji helped them draw level at 23-apiece. But Duhail wrested away control once more, scoring three straight to build a 26-23 advantage.
The Bahrainis put up one last stand and back-to-back efforts from Serbian import Uros Mitrovic and Ahmed got them to within a single possession, but that would be the last time they added to the scoreboard as the Qataris pulled away for the win.
Mitrovic added three goals for Najma in the loss while four others chipped in with two goals each, including Cepic, Al Samaheeji, Sayed Ali Basem, and Jassim Khamis.
Hadj Ayed paced Duhail with five goals in their win, while Capote had four and both Firas Zemzemi and Moustafa Heiba scored three apiece.
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