Al Najma set for Asian clubs handball

TDT | Manama                                                

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com     

Bahrain champions Al Najma are all set to take part in the 25th Asian Men’s Club League Handball Championship.

The tournament, organised by the Asian Handball Federation (AHF), gets underway on Thursday in Isfahan, Iran, and will continue until June 10.

Najma are the lone Bahraini representatives in the 11-team competition, with sides also competing from Kuwait, China, Uzbekistan, Qatar, Oman, India and hosts Iran.

There are two teams each from Kuwait, Qatar and Iran.

The winners of the event will qualify for the 17th IHF Men’s Super Globe, to be held from October 17 to 23 in Saudi Arabia.

Najma have already arrived at Isfahan, where the games will be held at Naghsh-e-Jahan Arena. They have kicked off their final preparations for the start of play.

Najma are in Group B of the tournament alongside defending champions Kuwait SC of Kuwait, Junior Club of China, RKOR Tashkent Club of Uzbekistan, Al Duhail of Qatar and Shahid Shameli Kazeroon of Iran.

Group A consists of just five teams, including Foolad Mobarakeh Sepahan SC of Iran, T-Sports Club of India, Oman Club of Oman, Kazma SC of Kuwait and Al Rayyan of Qatar.

The Bahrainis open their tournament campaign on Thursday against Kuwait, and then face off with Duhail the following day.

Najma take on Junior Club in their third fixture on Saturday, and then have a rest day on Sunday before facing Shahid Shameli on Monday next week.

Najma then completed their preliminary round campaign against RKOR.

The top two teams from each group following the single round-robin move on to the knockout semi-finals on June 8, while the others will play in the classification fixtures.

The gold and bronze medal games will then take place on June 10 on the final day of the championship.

Najma will be spearheaded in the competition by their core of Bahrain national team standouts, including Mohammed Habib Nasser, Mahdi Saad, Mohammed Habib, Qassim Qambar, Mohammed Mirza, Hassan Mirza, Ahmed Al Maqabi, Belal Basham and goalkeeper Mohammed Abdulhussain, among others.

Najma are also expected to have the services of inspirational national team captain Hussain Al Sayyad at some point in the tournament.

Meanwhile, to further boost their line-up, Najma have signed three foreign professionals for the tournament.

They include Vuk Lazovic from Montenegro, Yoel Cuni Morales from Cuba and Skandar Zaied of Tunisia.

Najma also took part in last year’s Asian clubs competition, which was held in Hyderabad, India.

The Bahrainis had to settle for the silver medals following a 23-28 loss against Kuwait in the tournament final.

Najma will be hoping to go one better this year and claim the Asian title they were denied in Hyderabad.