Najma bow out of Asian clubs handball

TDT | Manama                                                    

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain’s Al Najma were last night eliminated from the 26th Asian Men’s Club League Championship, currently being held in Kuwait City. The competition’s defending champions posted a sensational come-from-behind 27-26 victory over Kuwait Sporting Club in their concluding Group A game, but it was not enough to send them through to the semi-finals.

Najma trailed 8-12 at the half but fought back bravely in the final 30 minutes. They tied the contest at 19-apiece with a Hassan Mirza goal, and late conversions gave them a 27-25 edge. But Najma conceded another in the final seconds and needed to win by a larger margin in order to march through to the final four.

The result was only their second win in four games in the preliminaries. They had earlier also beaten Golden Eagles Bharat of India in their opening fixture, but then suffered tough defeats to Al Khaleej of Saudi Arabia and Al Gharafa of Qatar, putting them in a tough position for yesterday’s contest.

The semi-finals are on Sunday, while the gold and bronze medal matches are set for the following evening on Monday. Najma won the title in the previous edition of the tournament held earlier this year, but could not defend their crown this time around.