JEDDAH, 17 March 2007 — Saudi Arabia’s Al-Hilal launched their campaign in the 26th GCC Volleyball Championship for Clubs yesterday with a 3-1 victory over Al-Arabi of Qatar in Dubai, UAE.
Hilal, known to fans by their moniker Blue Waves started strong to win the first set 25-15 only to drop their guard in the second and allow Arabi to escape with a 25-22 win. That was a wake-up call and Hilal regrouped to claim the next two sets 25- 23 and 25- 21.
The tournament attracted six teams namely Al-Arbi of Qatar , Al-Qadisiya of Kuwait, Sahar of Oman, Hilal of Saudi, Al-Muharrag of Bahrain and hosts Al-Nasr of UAE.
Despite the stiff competition the defending champions Hilal are confident of retaining the title.
Hilal’s Yassir Al-Makawni told Arab News the competition would be exciting and tough due to the presence of professionals and they expected one match to be different from the rest owing to the depth of the tournament. The team entered a training camp in Dubai for a week before the competition, “so hopefully we are ready and fit and pray to God we do not let go of the cup,” he said.
The Saudi officials who joined the trip were delegation head Mansour Al-Sharif, administrator Ali Hazzazi, coach Muro Meraslav and assistant coach Abdulaziz Al-Qumaizi. The players are Ahmed Al-Bakhet, Yahya Hanash, Yasir Al-Makawni, Khalil Hijji, Muneir Abu Al-Raha, Thamer Al-Doussari, Ibrahim Al-Harbi, Naif Abu Hassoun, Misfir Al-Bishi, Sharif Khalifah, Abdulrahman Badr, and Pro Tunisian Kamal Al-Toumi.
To spice up the competition the organizers allowed pros to play and assigned a number of Ahli club players to competing teams on loan basis. Ismael Al-Khaibary went to Al-Arabi, Abdullah Al- Al-Nasr, and Majid Al-Jihani to Al-Qadisiya.
Hilal face Sahar of Oman in their second match today at 2 p.m.
