Al-kuwait win Asian handball
Al-kuwait clinched the 24th Asian Handball Men’s Club League Championship title with a comfortable win over Alnajma of Bahrain in a high voltage final at the GMC Balayogi Stadium in Gachibowli, here on Thursday.
After a see-saw battle, the Kuwait side emerged winners with a 28-23 scoreline.
Trailing with time running out, Al-najma fought hard until the last five minutes of the match but could not overcome the pressure.
Al-najma attacker Habib opened the scoring in the second minute of the game while Angel and Frankis scored quick goals to give their team the lead. The first half ended 15-11 in
Kuwait’s favour.
Al-najma changed gears after the break and desperately tried to level the scores. After 10 minutes in the second half, Najma inched closer to Kuwait, trailing by just two goals at 18-20. That became 22-24 in the 25th minute as the two point gap remained.
At this point, Kuwait players turned the heat up via Angel and Al Harbi who scored two goals each to pull their side clear at 26-22. From then on, Kuwait kept it tight and did not allow Najma players to break into their territory despite their best attempts to eventually close out the match and emerge champions.
Earlier, Al-qadsiya of Kuwait defeated Qatar’s Al-arabi 28-27 in a thrilling match for the third place.
State IT Department Principal Secretary Jayesh Ranjan, Youth Services & Sports Department secretary Sandeep Kumar Sultania, International Handball Federation vice-president Bader Altheyab, Handball Federation of India president Arisanapally Jaganmohan Rao, SATS chairman A. Venkateshwar Reddy and Indian Olympic Association treasurer Anandeeshwar Pandey honoured Al-kuwait with the trophy.
HFI chief Jagan Mohan Rao thanked the State government for its support. “As soon as the city got the chance to host this Asian event, I informed the state government officials, state IT minister KTR and Sports Minister Srinivas Goud, who provided full support and co-operation from the start,” he said.
Jagan also thanked SAI, SATS officials and state handball association representatives for working hard to make the event a huge success. “This is just the beginning and we are planning to organise a big sports festival in the state soon under the leadership of CM KCR and KTR,” he added.