Dar Kulaib, Nabih Saleh triumph in volleyball league

TDT | Manama                                                     

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Dar Kulaib and Nabih Saleh both got off to winning starts last night in the second round of the Top Six stage in the 2023/2024 Isa bin Rashid Bahrain Volleyball League.

Defending champions Dar Kulaib needed to dig deep to overcome an inspired Al Najma challenge 3-2 (25-18, 25-22, 22-25, 18-25, 15-9); while Nabih Saleh ousted Al Nasser 3-1 (25- 19, 25-16, 12-25, 25-23).

Both tightly contested affairs were held at Isa bin Rashid Arena at the Bahrain Volleyball Association headquarters at Isa Sports City in Riffa.

Dar Kulaib and Nabih Saleh strengthened their bids to secure a place in the Golden Square semi-finals with last night’s results.

In Dar Kulaib’s win, they got off to a strong start and then were able to stave off the Najma surge to narrowly take the five-set thriller.

Dar Kulaib were spearheaded by Mohammed Yaqoob, Hassan Alaiwi, Ali Habib, Ali Mohammed, Hassan Al Warqa, Abdulla Mohammed, Brazilian import Caio Oliveira, and veteran Mahmoud Abdulwahed, who was playing despite nursing an injured left hand.

Paced

Najma were paced by Fadhel Abbas, Hassan Dhahi, Hussain Mahdi, Mahmood Hassan and Swedish professional Jacob Link, but they could not outplay their rivals in the end.

Dar Kulaib’s win helped them claim their fifth victory of the Top Six.

They are virtually assured of a spot in the last four.

Najma, on the other hand, stayed on a single victory from six tries, and will need to fight back in their remaining fixtures in order to compete for a spot in the Golden Square semis.

In Nabih Saleh’s win, leading the way for the victors were Sayed Hashem Isa, Mohammed Jassim, Hussain Ashoor, Hassan Jaffar and Nigerian professional Oyewale Oyedepo, among others.

Nasser tried to rally behind their top stars Ebrahim Mohammed, Yousif Ali, and Mohammed Omar, but could not build from their momentum in the third set.

Nabih Saleh claimed an all-import third win from six games and stayed in the final spot for a place in the Golden Square.

Nasser, like Najma, suffered their fifth loss to go with just one win.

Top Six action continues tonight with Al Ahli squaring off with Muharraq at 6.30pm at the same venue.