JEDDAH, 25 May 2007 — Al-Ahli water polo club won the Al-Nokhbah Championship after crushing archrival Al-Ittihad 11-5 for a sweep of the best-of-three title series on Wednesday at the Youth Welfare indoor hall at Abdullah Al-Faisal Stadium here.
The win completes a championship double this season for Ahli, who won the Saudi Super Water Polo League in January.
At the end of the game, Ahli were awarded with the gold medals, Ittihad silver and Al-Qadisiya bronze medals. Safa came in fourth place.
The Best Player award went to Qadisiya right wing Ahmed Al-Shammari and the Best Goalkeeper plum to Abdulrahman Al-Malki of Ahli.
Meanwhile, due to the officiating problems that marred the super league and Nokhbah, the teams requested the Saudi Water Polo Federation to have international referees officiate at least the final matches. The request was granted. The international referees who came to supervise the final home and away matches in the championship namely Italian Carlo Salino and Spanish Angel Moliner were given citations.
Though Ahli beat Ittihad 12-11 in the away game of the series, the latter still harbored hopes of clinching the cup. It was not to be. After Ahli rattled in four goals in succession for a 4-0 lead Ittihad never really recovered and the best they could do was narrow the gap to 5-3 on a goal by Yassir Al-Zahrani.
The first quarter ended 0-0. Ahli left wing Khalid Al-Harbi scored on a power play start Ahli’s four-goal binge in the second quarter. Ittihad goalkeeper and captain of the team Bandar Al-Zahrani then failed to stop three more unanswered Ahli goals from Georgia professional Galktion Letadez, Ali Mansouri and Ayman Al-Oryani.
Ittihad got in their first goal courtesy of Khalid Al-Malki before Waleed Al-Ghamdi, second best scorer in the Asian Games, struck as of Ahli closed the period ahead by 5-1.
Ukranian Denis Surdan brought joy to Ittihad team when he scored the team’s second goal in the third frame followed by Al-Zahrani’s marker that came after Yusri Al-Layli was ejected after being shown the red card.
The final quarter was all Ahli who rained their rivals with goals from Letadez, Bandar Al-Zahrani, Abduh Gahal and team captain Basim Al-Harbi for an imposing 9-3 lead.
Denis Surdan of Ittihad managed to score only for Saeed Sagar to hit back for Ahli who received another marker in the last minute from Khalid Al-Harbi after Surdan had converted a penalty goal.
Al-Harbi said this would be his last match. He is traveling within a month to continue his pursuit of a bachelor’s degree in New Zealand.
Al-Harbi had been with the national water polo team since 1996 though he enjoys swimming and diving in his club. His best achievement was when he was part of the Saudi team that won the Asian Water Polo Youth Championship in Hong Kong. He also received best player awards in 1997 and 2002.
“I love water polo but it is time to concentrate on my future,” he said.
