Dar Kulaib out of Arab clubs volleyball

TDT | Manama                                                      

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Dar Kulaib were yesterday knocked out of further title contention from the 42nd Arab Clubs Volleyball Championship, currently being played in Amman.

The Bahraini league champions went down fighting to Al Seeb of Oman 1-3 (19-25, 22-25, 25-22, 22-25) in their quarter-final clash.

It was a disappointing result for Dar Kulaib, who were hoping to keep the Kingdom’s bid alive in the tournament following the early exit of fellow-Bahrain side Al Najma at the end of the group stage.

After losing the first two sets, Dar Kulaib valiantly fought back in the third.

They were on the brink of losing but overturned a deficit in the frame to lead 23-21, and later Mahmoud Abdulwahed attacked to close things out and send the match into the fourth set.

There, Dar Kulaib trailed 17-19, but then strung together the next three points to gain a slim advantage.

They traded blows with Seeb until the proceedings were tied at 22- all, which is when the Omanis took control and rallied for the victory.

Dar Kulaib relied on their top Bahraini talents Mohammed Yaqoob, Ali Mohammed, Hassan Alaiwi, Ali Habib, Hassan Al Warqa, Abdulla Mohammed and Abdulwahed in the competition along with professionals Caio Oliveira of Brazil and Aleksey Karpenko of Russia.

With their defeat, there will be no Bahraini club on the podium this year, after Al Nasser claimed a silver-medal finish in the 2023 edition held in Cairo.