Al-Ahli won the Water Polo Championship after defeating their arch-foe Al-Ittihad in Dammam last night. It was a tough match as both teams tied 8-8 in regular and extra time. Ahli defeated Ittihad 31-12 in a tie-breaker.
Prince Sultan Lauds Handicapped Team
Prince Sultan ibn Fahd, president of the Youth Welfare Presidency, expressed his happiness over the achievement attained by the Saudi lifters in the Gulf Weightlifting Championship for the Handicapped in Jeddah. The Saudis got first position by winning four golds, one silver, and one bronze medal. Oman came second with three golds, three silvers, and two bronze medals.
Saudi Football
Round 11 of Saudi Soccer League witnessed the change of the first position as Shabab took the lead from Hilal. The derby match between the two clubs took place last Sunday in which Shabab managed to force Hilal to a draw 1-1. Shabab is now on top with 24 points and Hilal is second with 23 points. Ittihad of Jeddah will be back in action in the Saudi league after many stoppages for the participation in AFC Champions League and World Club Championship in Japan. Ittihad has eight games pending and currently in the 10th position with seven points from three matches. Ittihad’s chance to regain the league is great if Ittihad managed to collect all 24 points from the pending matches. They could collect all points and end the league matches with 31. Ittihad’s first match will be today against Al-Ansar of Madinah in Madinah. Ahli remained in third place with 17 points after the huge win against Al-Ansar 3-1 in Madinah. Qadiseya suffered from a draw against Taie 2-2 in Dammam last week. This draw increased the gap between Qadiseya and Ahli to 2 points and Qadiseya is now in the fourth position with 15 points. Wehda, Taie, Hazem, Nasr and Ittifaq remained in the worm zone milled rank. Abha and Ansar continued to show their weak performance last week and they are in the last two places of Saudi league standings. In the Saudi league first division, Najran is on the top of the rank with 19 points and there is a huge race between the first five ranking teams, Jabaleen, Riyadh, Al-Faisali and Al-Khaleej. It is still unpredictable who is going to take the lead in the first round of the Saudi league because the difference in points between the fifth and first position teams is only two.
Handball
For the first time in the Handball League, Ahli lost the first position rank to Qadiseya after Ahli suffered the first defeat against Khaleej 26-21. Qadiseya defeat Mudar last week 31-24. Ahli dropped to the second position with 14 points and Qadiseya advanced to the first position with 16 points. Khaleej is also in third position with 14 points. Ahli’s next match is against Wehda of Makkah in Jeddah and Qadiseya will face Al-Khaleej in a very strong match in Qatif.
Volleyball
As expected, the first round in the Saudi Volleyball League ended with Ahli on top with 22 points after defeating Hilal two weeks ago and Hilal on second with 20 points. In the last round, Ahli defeated Khuwaildeya 3-0 and Hilal defeating Khaleej 3-0. The competition in the volleyball league has been limited between Ahli and Hilal. The second round will start today with Ahli facing Nasr in Jeddah and Hilal against Nahda in Riyadh.
New Saudi Coach
The Saudi Youth Welfare Presidency announced the hiring of the new coach the Brazilian Marcos Paqueta, former Hilal coach. The new coach will replace Gabriel Calderon. The Saudi Youth Welfare Presidency was not satisfied with the performance of the Saudi team in the West Asian Games in Qatar where the Saudi team showed weak performance against Iraq, losing the game 5-1. The decision to choose Paqueta to coach the national team came after the excellent performance he showed with Hilal.
Ittihad Champion of Prince Faisal ibn Fahd Competition
Ittihad secured the title for Prince Faisal ibn Fahd basketball competition after defeating Al-Ansar in the final match 77-60. The competition was held in Madinah for the first time. Ittihad secured the title for the tenth time. Still, Ohod is the first to hold the cup for 14 times.
