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Reigning champions Al Najma will have revenge on their minds as they take on formidable opponents Al Kuwait tonight in the final of the 39th GCC Clubs Handball Tournament at the Khalifa Sports City Arena.
The two teams clashed last in the final of the 24th Asian Men’s Club League Handball Championship in Hyderabad, India, with the Kuwaiti club triumphing, 28-23, in the July 1, 2022 encounter.
With seven players in their squad having to be taken to hospital with food poisoning the night before that game, Al Najma had found themselves at a disadvantage which Al Kuwait capitalised upon.
But, this time, after having won all three of their group A games before vanquishing the UAE’s Al Sharjah, 35-25, in an ultimately one-sided semi-final last Wednesday, Al Najma have looked the form team of the tournament.
And, to add to their advantage, they will be playing in front of a packed house of home fans – who have flocked in large numbers to every match the popular Bahraini club has played.
Al Kuwait, too, have looked good, after having started the tournament with two consecutive wins in Group B before going down, 26-25, in a surprise defeat to Saudi Arabia’s Al Safa in their last group game four days ago.
But they appeared to have shrugged off the shock of that loss in their semi-final, also last Wednesday, when they beat Qatar’s Al Arabi, 25-21, in a gripping game.
Meanwhile, Al Najma will be looking to their two foreign players – Egyptian national team stars Hassan Qadah and Ahmed Al Ahmer – to display the fine form they have shown all tournament.
And Bahraini players Adel Mohammed, Bilal Basham, Ahmed Jassim, Mohammed Mirza, Hassan Mirza and Qassim Qamber form the solid core which has enabled their team to garner its success in the tournament thus far.
Al Kuwait will count on their Brazilian national team star Vinicius Teixeira, Cuban-Qatari left back Frankis Marzo and Portuguese right back Angel Hernandez to lead their charge.
Backing them up will be Abbas Yaqoob, Hassan Safar, Abdulaziz Al Dousari, Nawaf Al Shummari and Abdulla Al Gharaballi.
The game will start at 6pm.
It will be preceded by the third-place play-off between Al Arabi and Al Sharjah, which will start at 4pm.
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