AL RAYYAN CLUB of Qatar used fire to extinguish fire and launched its campaign in the 15th Asian Clubs Handball League Championship on a victory note. At Al Gharafa Club Indoor Hall on Saturday, the home team played a tough and physical game to subdue Muscat Sports Club of Oman by 23-21.
Rayyan, who led by the narrowest possible margin at the interval by 12-11, held onto the advantage in the second half mainly due to superb scoring skills of Mohammed Ghazal and went on to pull off the crucial victory in the Group B clash.
Earlier it was Muscat which went ahead as Nasser al Tamtami shone in the opening phase. Thrice Al Rayyan drew levels. But after about 21:11 minutes when Ghazal hammered his third goal, it was the time for Muscat to do the catching up with the Qatari team.
Ghazal was the top striker for Rayyan with seven, four of his goals coming in the second session, in which the Qatari team turned the heat on the Omani team by retaining the lead throughout and improving its defence. Its goalkeeper Hussain Bazkairi also defended brilliantly and kept the rivals at bay.
Rayyan, whose three players were suspended temporarily, got more goals through Selim Hedoui (5), Nasreddine Megdich (4).
Abdulrazzaq, Bassel and Hamad al Hajri shared other six.
The Muscat team, which used the body play at many occasions to stop the Rayyan from scoring, had four of its players sent out on twominute suspensions. Mahar al Dughaishi and second best scorer Hassani were made to sit out twice each.
After the match, Rayyan coach Kamal Akab sounded pleased with this team’s winning start. “The first match in any championship is always tough. We had an opponent who was unknown to us. The Muscat team used a plenty of body play.” “But my players responded to the challenge well and won the difficult match. Luckily, we did not suffer any injury in this physical match. This victory is very significant for us and will inspire us to improve our game”.
Rayyan team manager Ahmed Salem commented: “It was not an easy match for my team. My players played a hard handball and did not allow the Oman team to take the initiative in the crucial parts of the match.” Al Noor shines Saudi Arabia’s Al Noor also had an impressive start in the group B as it brushed aside the challenge of UAE’s Al Jazeera by 28-22. The winner enjoyed a slender one-goal edge (11-10) at the interval but a fine scoring in the second session helped it win the match easily.
Tahar Labane and Mahdi Salem shared 12 goals to lead the charge of Al Noor.
Mojtaba Salem (4), Ali al Tarote (3) and Abdulla Hammad (3) pushed Al Noor ahead with their scoring abilities.
Abdulhamed al Janabi also had half a dozen goals to his credit for Al Jazeera. Jumah al Dhanhani (five) and Tarek Boukhamis (four) offered good support but other scorers failed to utilise the chances they got.
Arabi holds Samen Abdulaziz al Mutawa of Al Arabi blasted four goals in the second half and his last one salvaged a point in a pulsating 23-23 draw against Samen Alhojaj of Iran in a Group C match.
The Kuwaiti team was 22- 21 ahead when Hassan al Shatti struck his second goal.
In the remaining three and a half minutes, both got a bit nervous and could not finish their moves. At 27:07, Masod Zohrabi equalised and the Iranian team forged ahead through its best scorer Hojat Rahshenas’ fifth goal with 46 seconds from the final whistle.
In the final moments, Arabi launched its attack and Mutawa fired a brilliant goal to spark a jubilation among his teammates and forced the rivals to share the points.
Meshari al Harabi emerged the highest goal-getter for Arabi with seven. He was followed by Ahmad al Ebrahim and Mutawa, who had four each. Apart from Rahshenas, Hassan Khalighivaliabd netted four, while Masod Zohrabi and Jorgeluis Pavanlopez hit three each for the loser.
Mudhar downs Jiangsu In a late match on Friday, holder Mudhar launched its defence in a convincing manner, beating Chinese team Jiangsu 28-23. Mohammed al Zaer and Maksimovc Mlos struck goals at the key moments to lead their team to the victory with nine and seven goals.
The Saudi Arabian team took some time to settle down and needed to turn over the three-goal deficit (5-8) and rallied to tie the scores four times before forging ahead at 12-11, never to look back.
Hassan al Janbi and Majed Abo al Raha netted three goals apiece to maintain the pressure on the Chinese team. Li An struck six goals in as many attempts for the loser. Zhao Chen and Hao Ke Xin slammed five and four goals, respectively, to give an early boost to Jiangsu.
RESULTS Al Noor (Saudi Arabia) beat Al Jazeera Club (UAE) 28-22 (half-time 11-10) Scorers ñ Al Noor: Tahar Labane 6, Mahdi Salem 6, Mojtaba Salem 4, Abdulla Hammad 3, Ali al Tarote 3, Ahmed al Obedi 2, Milan Vucicevic 2, Abdulla Abaas 1, Nabel al Obedi 1
Al Jazeera: Abdulhameed al Janabi 6, Jumah al Dhanhani 5, Tarek Boukhamis 4, Alaha al Nofeli 3, Abdulla al Balooshi 2, OUlaid Ben Amor 2
Al Rayyan Club (Qatar) beat Muscat Sports Club (Oman) 23-21 (half-time 12-11) Scorers ñ Al Rayyan: Mohammed Ghazal 7, Selim Hedoui 5, Nasreddine Megdich 4, Abdulrazzaq Murad 2, Bassel al Rayes 2, Hamad al Hajri 2, Anas Suweidan 1
Muscat SC: Nasser al Tamtami 7, Assad Syed al Hassani 6, Peter Rodik 3, Hamid al Dughaishi 2, Hassan al Jabri 1, Aiman al Rasbi 1, Abdullah al Dughaishi 1
Al Arabi Club (Kuwait) draws with Samen Alhojaj (Iran) 23-23 (half-time 10-10) Scorers ñ Al Arabi: Meshari al Harbi 7, Abdulaziz al Mutawa 4, Ahmad al Ebrahim 4, Hassan al Shatti 2, Ahmad al Kandary 2, Salem al Mutawa 1, Abdulla al Theyab 1, Ali Morad 1, Hamed al Sulalli 1
Samen Alhojaj: Hojat Rahshenas 5, Hassan Khalighivaliabd 4, Masod Zohrabi 3, Jorgeluis Pavanlopez 3, Hadi Talebi 2, Mojtaba Heierpour 2, Aliakbar Khohshnevis 1, Mustafa Hassanimonfare 1, Mahdi Bijary 1, Milos Pesic 1
SUNDAY’S FIXTURES 13:00 Al Sadd (Lebanon) vs Al Ahli Club (UAE) 15:00 Al Ahli Club (Bahrain) vs Al Arabi (Kuwait) 17:00 Samen Alhojaj (Iran) vs Jiangsu (China) 19:00 El Jaish (Qatar) vs Kuwait SC (Kuwait)
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