Champions Al Najma triumph in league opener
TDT | Manama
The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com
Al Najma and Samaheej were both victorious last night in the opening evening of action in the 2022/2023 Khalid bin Hamad Bahrain Handball League, being played at the Bahrain Handball Association (BHA) Arena in Um Al Hassam. Defending champions Najma battled past a hard-challenging Bahrain Club 33-25, while Samaheej posted an emphatic comefrom-behind 29-23 win against Tubli in their contest.
In Najma’s win, they held a slim 16-12 advantage heading into the locker rooms and then Bahrain Club kept things close early in the second half. But Najma gradually began to pull away and a Mohammed Habib goal gave them a 23-20 lead. They continued to extend the gap to 26-22 moving into the final 10 minutes. Back-toback goals from Habib and Bilal Basham made it 31-23, and they then rode their momentum to the final whistle.
Najma’s triumph last night continued from where they left off last week, when they claimed the Bahrain Super Cup—the traditional season-opening fixture in the national handball scene—with a 31- 24 triumph over arch-rivals Al Ahli. Najma are looking to build on their monumental success from last season, when they won the league title, the BHA Cup and the Gulf clubs handball championship, while also claiming the silver medals in the Asian clubs championship.
Meanwhile, Samaheej used a blistering 11-0 run midway through the second half to turn a narrow deficit into a commanding lead, and they never looked back. The game was deadlocked at 13-all at the end of the first half, and then Tubli went ahead 19-16 eight minutes after the break.
But then Samaheej stepped things up and scored the match’s next 11 goals to power to a 27- 19 advantage. That completely changed the face of the contest, as Samaheej held Tubli scoreless for nearly 20 minutes. Samaheej cruised from there as they sealed a well-deserved season-opening win. The first week of league action continues tonight and tomorrow. This evening, Al Shabab take on Al Tadhamon at 5.30pm, to be followed at 7.15pm by an exciting clash between Al Ahli and Barbar. Tomorrow, Al Ettihad take on Al Ettifaq at 7pm.
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