Shabab eke past Ahli, advance to handball league final

TDT | Manama                                         

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com   

Al Shabab set up an exciting clash with defending champions Al Najma in the final of the 2022/2023 Khalid bin Hamad Bahrain Handball League.

Shabab booked their berth in the title-decider after defeating Al Ahli 23-21 in the winner-take-all third game of their best-of-three semi-final series, played at the Bahrain Handball Association (BHA) Arena in Um Al Hassam.

Shabab held a 13-9 advantage at the half, and then held on for a slim 23-20 lead with just over two minutes remaining in the game. Ahli were able to score once more but came no closer as Shabab staved off any late surge to seal the win.

Shabab will now take on Najma in the final, which has still to be scheduled by the BHA. Najma booked their seats in the one-off championship match after sweeping past Al Ettifaq in two games in their best-of-three semi-final.

Najma are the three-time defending league champions and are gunning for an historic fourth successive national crown. They booked their place in the semi-finals after finishing atop the league table at the end of the preliminary round with a 9-0-1 win-draw-loss record in 10 games.

Ettifaq were the fourth seeds with an impressive eight wins in their 10 matches with no draws. Like Ettifaq, Shabab finished the preliminaries with eight victories and two losses. Ahli, on the other hand, registered seven wins, two draws and one loss to claim their final standing on the table.