JEDDAH, 12 April 2005 — The special Saudi football team for the handicapped qualified for the semifinal in the 1st Islamic Solidarity Games.
They qualified as the top team of Group A with 9 points beating in succession Egypt 9-0, Algeria 5-1 and Bahrain 10-2.
All matches were played at King Abdul Aziz University Indoor Hall here.
In the final group match against Bahrain, Muhammad Ayyad scored a hat trick of goals for the host team, a feat that was duplicated by teammate Omar Kassar. Ahmad Gharomi scored two goals while Fahd Hargan and Raid Hassan each had one goal. The assistant coach for the Saudi handicapped team Abdullah Al-Muthem congratulated his players for qualifying on top of the group. He urged his team to continue the excellent performance and to win the gold medal in the competition.
Saudi Arabia play Iraq, second in Group B, at 4:30 p.m. today with the winners of going up tomorrow in the final against the winners of the other semifinal match between Iran and Algeria.
