JEDDAH, 20 March 2008 — After a rest day yesterday allowed the players to visit Makkah and perform Umrah, the 28th GCC Handball Championship for Clubs resumes today here with Al-Ahli teams of Saudi Arabia and Bahrain facing each other in a semifinal match at 7 p.m.
Al-Najmah, the second team from Bahrain to reach the semifinals, play Al-Salimiyah of Kuwait in the first match at 5 p.m. at the Saudi Youth Welfare indoor hall. Ahli handball Bandar Al-Harbi said they are looking forward to today’s match and believes it would be an exciting one. Their past head-to-head matches all ended in the Bahrainis’ advantage, but Al-Harbi is hoping today’s match “will end in our advantage. ”
In preparation for this tournament Al-Harbi and teammates entered training camp in the Eastern Province for six days. Al-Harbi said that they were planning to a longer training camp but they only had 10 days since they got back from the 13th Asian Handball Championship.
Al-Ahli qualified first from Group B with 6 points after winning their three matches against Al-Seib of Oman 23-15, Al-Ahli of Qatar 33-25 and Bahrain’s Al-Najmah 36-26.
The Jeddah-based Ahli’s Bahraini counterparts of Saudi led Group A with 4 points wining two games out of three against Al-Wasl of UAE, and Al-Salimiyah of Kuwait 30-28. Their only loss was against Saudi Arabia’s Al-Wehda 25-24 on Tuesday The eight teams that entered the tournament are Al-Ahli of Bahrain, Al-Salmiyah of Kuwait, Al-Wehda of Saudi and Al-Wasl of UAE in Group A, and Al-Ahli of Saudi, Al-Najmah of Bahrain, Al-Ahli of Qatar and Al-Seib of Oman in Group B.
The Saudi teams include national team players who helped Saudi Arabia qualify for the 2009 Handball World Cup in Croatia after placing third in the 13th Asian Handball Championship. Among these players are Bandar Al-Harbi, Ahmed Younbawai and goalkeeper Manaf Yousif of Al-Ahli.
