Dar Kulaib to play for bronze

TDT | Manama                                             

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com   

Bahrain’s Dar Kulaib narrowly missed out on the gold medal game last night in the first West Asia Men’s Club Championship, currently being played in Amman, Jordan. The Bahraini representatives fell to Kuwait SC of Kuwait in a five-set thriller in their semi-final clash yesterday.

Dar Kulaib had a chance to book their tickets to the championship contest, but were just two points shy of a glorious finish. They fell behind twice in the game but managed to fight back both times.

They eventually lost out 2-3 (17-25, 26-24, 21-25, 25- 20, 13-15) in a nail-biting finish. Coached by Brazilian head coach Leandro Kakaroto, Dar Kulaib relied heavily on their top players including Mohammed Yaqoob, Nasser Anan, Mahmoud Abdulwahed, Ali Habib, Ayman Isa, libero Hussain Sultan and Argentinian professional Juan Barrera.

Dar Kulaib are now set to play for the bronze medals against the loser of the other semi-final between Police SC of Qatar and Al Rayyan, also of Qatar. The title match is scheduled for this evening at 7pm. It will be preceded by the bronze medal contest starting at 5pm.

Dar Kulaib qualified for the knockout stages after winning three of their four games in the preliminary round, and then swept past Oman SC of Oman in straight sets in the quarter-finals. Their dream run ended with last night’s loss.

Dar Kulaib are the lone Bahraini side in the tournament, which has been organised and is run by the West Asia Volleyball Association. It is scheduled to continue until Saturday. Aside from the West Asia men’s tournament, Dar Kulaib are also set to compete in the Golden Square semi-finals of the 2022/2023 Isa bin Rashid Bahrain Volleyball League.