HANDBALL – BAHRAIN’S Al Najma salvaged a last-gasp 30-all draw against Al Arabi of Qatar last night in the 28th Asian Men’s Club League Handball Championship, currently being played in Sabah Al Salem, Kuwait.
Serbian professional Uros Mitrovic fired in the equalising goal with only seconds remaining on the game clock to help Najma come away with a crucial share of the points.
The Bahrainis battled hard throughout the contest where they fell behind by as many as five in the first half.
They then held a three-goal advantage after the break but Arabi regained control before the two teams settled for the stalemate.
The result followed Najma’s first win of the Asian Handball Federation tournament on Wednesday night against Sharjah SC of the UAE. They had earlier lost to hosts Kuwait SC and Al Duhail of Qatar in their first two games, but are now fighting to remain in contention for the semi-finals.
Najma’s standoff with Arabi saw both teams improve to three points on the seven-team standings.
The Bahrainis are back in action today when they take on Burgan SC of Kuwait at 4pm. It will be followed by their concluding assignment of the preliminary round against Khaleej Club of Saudi Arabia on Sunday at 8pm. Both 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 next Wednesday.
In Najma’s contest yesterday against Arabi, the Qataris powered ahead to an early lead and a Youssef Altaieb steal and goal from long distance put them up 12-7 after the first quarter-hour.
Najma gradually clawed their way back and after Anis Zouaoui put Arabi ahead 16-12, the Bahrainis went on a game-changing rally with five unanswered goals, sparked by Montenegro import Radojica Cepic and capped by a Hasan Madan go-ahead strike from six metres.
Goalkeeper Mohammed Abdulhussain also played a key role in their surge with a number of fine stops, helping Najma take a slim 18-17 lead into the locker rooms.
After the re-start, Najma stayed in command and back-to-back conversions from Mohammed Habib Ahmed and Mahdi Saad made it 22-19. But the Qataris went on their own run and scored four without reply to regain the advantage.
The two sides then traded jabs until the closing stages, and goals from Arabi’s Sadou Ntanzi and Najma’s Madan forged a 29-all tie. Amir Denguir then gave the Qataris the edge with a penalty heading into the last two minutes, setting the stage for Mitrovic’s game-saving effort to wrap things up at 30-apiece.
Mitrovic finished as Najma’s leading scorer last night with seven goals, while Ahmed added five and Madan and Saad both finished with four apiece. Jassim Khamis and Sayed Ali Basem were also both on target twice.
For Arabi, Ihor Turchenko was their top man with eight goals, while Giorgi Tskhovrebadze contributed six and Ntanzi had five.
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.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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