JEDDAH, 25 February 2007 — Al-Ittihad water polo team boosted their points tally after thumping Al-Ahli 23-2 and then drawing with Al-Qadisiya 7-7 in the first week of the Al-Nokhba Water Polo Championship here.

At the indoor hall of Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal Stadium, the biggest surprise of the day came when defending champion Ahli crashed to the lowest margin against Ittihad, the 2nd runner-up. Ittihad were strengthened with experienced foreign as well as local stars. The absence of bankable Khalid Al-Harbi and other international stars was the cause of Ahli’s displace showing. “The coach put a young team on duty rather than playing the first team and the late arrival of our international players on the same day hampered our performance,” said Ahli team manager Majid Ba Muflih. But with the inclusion of Al-Harbi in the squad, we made an impact in our next match against Qadisiya on Friday and hopefully this form will continue in the rest of the matches, said Muflih.

The four teams including Al-Ittihad, Al-Ahli, Al-Qadisiya and Al-Safa have seen in action this week. Having won two matches and drawing one, Ittihad are on top with the most points. In the first match, Ittihad outclassed Ahli 23-2 but drew 7-7 against Qadisiya. But in the third match, they came back strongly to inflict a huge 17-1 defeat on Safa.

Qadisiya, having one international player in their squad, sunk Al-Safa 23-5 in their match on Thursday, but they could not keep their grip on the game against Ahli and lost 9-8. The league resumes next Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Ittihad and Ahli are looking forward to the Asian Water Polo Championship to be held in Kuwait. “Especially now that for the first time the participation of two clubs from each participating countries, it is going to be interesting,” said Nasser Al-Dheghether, team captain of Qadisiyah. Al-Dheghether along with Ahmed Al-Shammari from the same team will both play for Ittihad during the Asian Water Polo Championship, while Bandar Khalas is still hesitant to join either Ahli or Ittihad. Meanwhile, the national Water Polo team will compete in the FINA World Water Polo Development Trophy from May 2 to 8 in Kuwait.