JEDDAH, 18 April 2007 — Al-Ittihad club continued their success story in the month of April when their youth water polo team landed the Saudi Volleyball League (under 19) title with a 8-6 win over Al-Ahli at the Saudi Youth Welfare indoor hall.
The championship was the fourth for the club in this month, and Ittihad’s celebrations increased with Hamid Al-Nifaiyi clinching the best player award. The best goalkeeper award went to Safa’s Rida Al-Sadig.
Ittihad remained undefeated in 16 matches and had lost two against Ahli in the 18-match league. The final week decided the outcome of the league when Ittihad outplayed Al-Qadisiya 13-3, and then beat Ahli 6-3 and 8-6 to emerge champions.
The champions’ squad included, Naif Abbas, Moutaz Abbas, Mouhsin Al-Otaibi, Hamid Al-Nifaiyi, Abdullah Al-Zahrani, Ibrahim Al-Zahrani, Mouhanad Al-Rifai, Raji Al-Sayyid, Saeed Al-Zahrani and Mohamed Al-Jubairy. Faisal Al-Birnawi also came from the Eastern Province to play for the club, Hattan Al-Olayani came from Jordon, taking a break from his studies, to boost Ittihad, and Malik Mukhtar came from Germany after receiving an invitation from the club.
According to Majid Al-Malki, Ittihad water polo team manager, Al-Nifaiyi, along with Naif Abbas, was the topscorer (22) for Ittihad. Abdullah Al-Zahrani (17), Al-Otaibi (16), Mukhtar (18), Al-Rifai (3), Al-Olayani (5), Moutaz Abbas (10), Al-Sayyid (6), Saeed Al-Zahrani (10) and Al-Birnawi (13) were the other contributors.
Earlier, Ittihad had brought home three laurels this month when they won the AlJawal-sponsored Saudi Basketball League on March 31, followed by their victory in the 5th Asian Water Polo Championship in Kuwait on April 11 and the AlJawal-sponsored Saudi Basketball Super League on Thursday last.
Ittihad celebrated the water polo teams, the first and youth, successes on Saturday.
