Muharraq, Dar Kulaib set up final clash for Crown Prince’s Cup

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Muharraq and Dar Kulaib both punched their tickets to the final of this year’s Crown Prince’s Cup in volleyball last night.

Muharraq sealed their berth with a 3-1 (23-25, 25-20, 25-20, 25-17) win over Al Najma, while Cup holders Dar Kulaib showed their fighting spirit after battling past recently crowned league champions Al Ahli 3-2 (22-25, 25- 22, 25-17, 23-25, 17-15) in a thriller that went that maximum.

Both semi-final matches were played at the Bahrain Volleyball Association arena at Isa Sports City in Riffa.

In yesterday’s first fixture, Muharraq squandered a solid lead in the first set as Najma did well to come back. But the victors didn’t lose their cool and they outclassed their rivals the rest of the game.

Muharraq were spearheaded by Cameroon professional Yvan Arthur Kody Bitjaa and local stars Fadhel Abbas, Mahmood Al Afia, Hussain Haikki, Ali Khairallah, Bader Mohammed and Mohammed Habib. Najma, who were the losing side in last year’s Crown Prince’s Cup final, relied on Brazilian Lailson Costa, and Bahrainis Ahmed Mushraf, Hassan Jaffar, Ahmed Sadeq, Ali Abdulnabi, Ahmed Isa and Hussain Matrook.

In last night’s later encounter, Ahli took the first set but Dar Kulaib were able to get back to-back wins in the second and third. Ahli then did just enough to eke out the fourth set by two points to set up the decider, where Dar Kulaib took a quick 3-0 lead but then moved to the brink of elimination late on. The win could have gone either way but Dar Kulaib were able to come up with the decisive points after trailing 14-15.