Al Dair make winning start in Gulf clubs handball

TDT | Manama                                                      

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain’s Al Dair made a winning start last night to their campaign in the 40th Gulf Clubs Handball Championship, which got underway in Doha. Dair defeated Burgan SC of Kuwait 27-25 in their opening Group A fixture of the preliminary round.

The Bahrainis did well to fight back in the contest after trailing by a single goal, 15-16, at the half.

Hassan Mirza was named the Player of the Match and received a trophy after the final whistle for his efforts.

Also playing key roles for Dair were Hassan Madan, Mohammed Abdulredha, Ali Al Ashiri, and goalkeeper Hesham Issa, to name a few.

Bahrain is being represented by two clubs in the tournament.

The other are Al Shabab, who are in Group B along with Al Kuwait SC of Kuwait, Mleeha of the UAE and Al Rayyan of Qatar.

Dair and Burgan are in the same pool as Al Arabi of Qatar and Oman SC of Oman. Dair return to action tomorrow when they face Oman at 4pm.

They then complete their opening round campaign on Thursday against Arabi at 6pm. Shabab, meanwhile, begin their tournament bid tonight against Rayyan.

Their game is scheduled for a 6pm start. Shabab then play Mleeha at 4pm on Wednesday, before squaring off with Kuwait on Friday at 6pm.

Dair and Shabab are hoping to improve on the silver-medal finish of Bahrain’s Al Najma Club in last year’s tournament, held in the Kingdom.

Najma were the Gulf clubs champions in 2022, which was their sixth title. Bahrain’s Al Ahli Club also participated in the 2023 edition.

They finished fifth overall in the competition.