HANDBALL – BAHRAIN’S Al Najma were eliminated from further contention last night in the 28th Asian Men’s Club League Handball Championship, currently taking place in Sabah Al Salem, Kuwait.
The kingdom’s representatives and two-time winners bowed to Kuwaiti side Burgan Sports Club 24-28 in their penultimate assignment of the Asian Handball Federation tournament, being played at Sheikh Saad Al Abdullah Al Salim Al Sabah Covered Halls Complex.
The Bahrainis battled valiantly as they looked to keep their fading semi-final hopes alive, but after Mohammed Habib Ahmed converted a penalty that tied it at 23-all with just over five minutes to play, Burgan closed the contest with a decisive 5-1 rally.
The setback was Najma’s third in five games, having also registered one win and one draw.
They remained in the bottom half of the seven-team table and, after not scoring any points, are now out of the running for the top four heading into their concluding fixture of the competition’s preliminary round tomorrow.
Najma will be taking on Khaleej Club from Saudi Arabia at 8pm, Bahrain time, in a contest where they will be facing two key members of the kingdom’s senior men’s handball national team in skipper Hussain Al Sayyad and Mohammed Habib Naser – both of whom also used to suit up for Najma.
Today is a rest day. After tomorrow’s conclusion of this single round-robin stage, the top four teams on the standings move on to the semis, scheduled for Monday. The gold and bronze medal games will then be held next Wednesday.
In attendance during Najma’s contest against Burgan yesterday was Bahrain Olympic Committee board member and Bahrain Handball Federation president Ali Issa Ishaqi.
Najma did well to keep pace with the Kuwaitis early on, battling back from a 7-10 deficit to draw level at 13-all following an Ahmed Fadhul conversion from the left wing. But Burgan’s Mohammed Ghadanfar was then on target to give his team a slim, single-goal edge at the interval.
After the re-start, Najma fell behind by three goals yet again but put up a brave fight. Sayed Ali Basem scored on a fastbreak to tie it at 21-apiece, and then and then goals from Saud Aljunaid and Ahmed made it 23-all.
That set the stage for their end-game collapse, however, as three unanswered goals sent the home team on their way to the win. Jassim Khamis fired in Najma’s last strike, but it mattered little as Burgan replied twice more before the final buzzer.
Basem and Aljunaid finished as Najma’s top scorers in the loss with five goals apiece, while Ahmed and Khamis chipped in with four each. Mohsen Mahmoud was red hot in leading Burgan with six goals, while Husain Almutawa contributed six.
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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