Al Dair miss out on Gulf clubs handball bronze

TDT | Manama                                                      

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain’s Al Dair narrowly missed out on the bronze medals yesterday in the 40th Gulf Clubs Handball Championship, which came to a close in Doha.

The Bahrainis fell 23-27 to Al Arabi of Qatar in the game for third place.

The loss secured their final ranking in fourth overall in the competition, one step away from a podium place.

Dair battled hard in yesterday’s contest from the opening throw.

They trailed early and then a pair of quality saves from national team goalkeeper Hesham Issa helped them tie the proceedings at 11-all.

But Arabi were able to widen their gap heading into the break to 15-12.

In the concluding 30 minutes, Dair fought valiantly to stay within striking distance and were within two goals for much of the period.

They then fought back to 23-24 and had chances to bring the match on level terms, but Arabi responded and scored the next three goals to take 27-23 lead with under four minutes to play, virtually icing the game.

Dair could not mount a challenge the rest of the way and neither team added to the score line.

The defeat was the second for Dair to Arabi in the tournament, having also succumbed to their opponents in the preliminary round.

With the result, Bahrain’s clubs ended the eight-team competition with solid classifications in the middle of the pack, with Dair’s fourth-placed finish being joined by Al Shabab in fifth.