JEDDAH, 12 April 2007 — GCC champions Hilal take on Al-Ahli in the final match of the Saudi Volleyball League today in Riyadh in what promises to be a battle royal that could well seal the league title for Hilal.
The match will also prove to be an opportunity for Ahli to push their credential as champions, for a win in this encounter will give them another crack at Hilal for the championship.
After their victory in the GCC Volleyball Championship in March, Hilal continued their winning sequence in the league by trouncing Safa 3-0 last Friday to stay on top. Ahli, who are in the second place after outplaying Ittihad 3-0, now are the only team who could throw Hilal off stride.
In the event of Ahli winning this key encounter, both teams would finish level on points. Then a tiebreaker match tomorrow would decide the eventual champion.
Hilal dominated all three sets against Safa despite some of the team’s top spikers being rested. The coach rested some of his top players in order to save them for the Ahli clash. Naif Al-Buhassoun, Yassir Al-Makawni and Khaleel Al-Bahrani, despite seeing continuous action in the grueling GCC event, turned in their best and this proved decisive for Hilal. Hilal began with a bang as they racked up the points quickly in the first set and then held on to win the set 25-17. In the second, Hilal allowed Safa in briefly with some poor attacking shots during a period of enhanced performance from the Safa six. Safa’s Mohammed Jasim surprised all with some clinical spikes, but Hilal regrouped with some great overlapping defense to win 25-22.
“Jasim has shown great improvement in his performance and he might soon be picked for the national team if he continues this way,” said Saleh Al-Qasem, manager of the Saudi national team, who was at the match in the capacity of a commentator for the Saudi Sport channel.
The final set saw Hilal stringing out a 5-0 edge, before pushing it to 8-2, thanks to Al-Buhassoun and Al-Bahrani’s precision strikes. Hilal raced from 13-7 to 15-9 before closing the set 25-20.
Al-Buhassoun told Arab News over the phone from Riyadh that he tries to improve with every game and works hard at it. He also credited the victory in the GCC event as boosting his and his teammates’ confidence.
Al-Bahrani and Al-Makawni too look forward for the Ahli match. They also hope that the transfer system would soon be introduced in the Kingdom enabling players’ movement from one club to another. This they say would make the league more exciting with a near level playing field and, in turn, attracting larger numbers of fans.
“When we play in Jeddah it is better and more fans attend,” said Al-Makawni, while adding that the players also encourage their fans to attend. Ismael Al-Khaibary, captain of the Ahli team also told Arab News before they flew to Riyadh yesterday afternoon, they have prepared very well and are optimistic they would win the match and win the tiebreaker that follow.
Al-Qasem was hopeful that both Hilal and Ahli would play a superb match. It is a good sign that they have sustained their performance throughout the league. And this augurs well for a league finale, or two. The standings after the match is as follows: Hilal (34), Ahli (32), Safa (26), Al-Ittihad (18), Al-Khaleej (16), Al-Khuwailidi (16), Al-Nasr (14), Al-Riyadh (12), Al-Nahda (8) and Al-Hidaya (2).
