Dar Kulaib maintain winning ways

TDT | Manama                                                       

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain’s Dar Kulaib romped to their third straight victory yesterday in the 42nd Arab Clubs Volleyball Championship, currently being played in Amman. Dar Kulaib cruised to a convincing 3-0 (25-22, 25-17, 25-20) win against North Refineries SC of Iraq to maintain their pristine record in three matches in Group B of the competition’s preliminary round.

Their win against the Iraqis followed a four-set triumph against Burgan SC of Kuwait and a straight-sets win in their opening fixture against Eira of Jordan. The Bahrain league champions virtually secured their place in the quarter-finals with two games still to play.

They face off today with Libya’s Asswehly SC at 1pm, and then complete their campaign in the preliminaries tomorrow against Police SC of Qatar, also at 1pm. In their triumph yesterday, Dar Kulaib were in control from the very beginning. They were spearheaded in the contest by Brazilian Caio Oliveira who had 24 points, while fellow-import Aleksey Karpenko of Russia chipped in with 11 markers.

Bahrain national team star Mohammed Yaqoob scored nine points; while Ali Habib, Hassan Alaiwi, Abdulla Mohammed, and Ayman Issa all scored two points apiece.

Tough

Meanwhile, the Kingdom's other representatives in the tournament, Al Najma, suffered a tough defeat to Kazma of Kuwait 0-3 (15-25, 27-29, 23-25) in Group A. Najma’s loss followed a straight-sets win against Shabab Al Hussein of Jordan in their previous outing, while they had also fallen in a tough five-setter to Seeb of Oman in their opening fixture.

Today, they will be hoping to keep their quarters hopes alive when they square off with Al Ahly Benghazi of Libya at 4pm. They then complete the preliminary round against Qatar SC of Qatar tomorrow, also at 4pm. Najma were led last night by Fadhel Abbas, Hassan Dhahi, Hussain Mahdi, Mahmood Hassan, Sayed Hashem Issa, and Swedish import Jacob Link, among other players.

At the end of the single round-robin, the top four teams from each pool advance to the quarter-finals, which will be held on Monday next week. That will be followed by the semi-finals the following day, and then the final and game for third place will be held on the tournament’s final day on Wednesday next week.

Bahrain were represented in last year’s tournament held in Cairo by Al Nasser, who came away with the silver medals after losing to home side Al Ahly 0-3 (12-25, 10-25, 19-25). They were the only team from the Kingdom to take part in the competition.