Al Najma, Dar Kulaib set for title showdown

TDT | Manama                                        

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com   

An exciting showd own between Al Najma and Dar Kulaib gets underway tomorrow night for the coveted title in the 2022/2023 Isa bin Rashid Bahrain Volleyball League.

The Kingdom’s two volleyball giants will be battling it out in a best-of-three series.

The schedule for the championship round was released yesterday by the Bahrain Volleyball Association (BVA).

Game one is scheduled for tomorrow, followed by game two on Tuesday next week.

Game three, if needed, will be played on April 12.

All three matches are set for 9.30pm starts and will be played at Isa bin Rashid Arena at the BVA headquarters at Isa Sports City in Riffa.

Also set to be held will be a game for third place on Saturday between losing semi-finalists Al Ahli and Muharraq.

The bronze-medallists will be determined in a single contest, also starting at 9.30pm at the same venue.

Najma will be looking to win the league title for the first time since the 2016/2017 season, while Dar Kulaib are hoping to take the crown again since they last won it in the 2018/2019 campaign.

Ahli are the two-time defending champions.

Ahli won last season’s title after defeating Al Nasser in two games in the championship series.

The previous season, they defeated Muharraq in the title round, also with a two-game sweep.

Ahli were not able to make it through to the championship this time, however, having been defeated by Dar Kulaib in two games in their best-of-three semi-final clash.

Dar Kulaib claimed a dominant 3-0 (25-22, 25-20, 25-17) victory in game two last week to secure their berth in the finals.

Najma, meanwhile, ousted Muharraq in their final-four encounter, held over just one game.

Najma had a twice-to-beat advantage against Muharraq, but defeated them 3-0 (25-21, 25- 20, 25-18) in their meeting.

Najma, who finished the preliminary round and round-ofsix playoffs in first place, are set to be spearheaded by their key players including Estonian professional Kevin Saar and Bahraini stars Ali Ebrahim, Fadhel Abbas, Hassan Dhahi, Mirza Abdulla and Mohammed Habib, to name a few.

For Dar Kulaib, they will be relying heavily on Argentinian professional Juan Barrera, along with top local talents Mohammed Yaqoob, Ali Habib, Hassan Abbas, Hassan Alaiwi and libero Hussain Sultan, among others.