Al-Kuwait Club won the 24th Asian Handball Men's Club League Championship defeating Al-Najma (Bahrain) 28-23 in the final at Gachibowli Indoor Stadium here on Thursday night.
Al-Najma, who competed hard until the last five minutes of the match, caved in to the pressure in the final moments.
Al-Najma attacker Habib opened the scoring in the second minute of the first-half. Kuwait attackers Angel and Frankis scored lightning goals to give their team the lead to help the team lead 15-11 at half-time.
Al-Najma changed gears after the break, trying desperately to equalize the score. Ten minutes into the second-half, Al-Najma reduced Kuwait's lead to two points to make it 18-20.
Both teams battled for points till the 24th minute. Najma trailed 22-24 in the 25th minute. At this point, Kuwait came
back strongly through star players Angel and Al Harbi who scored two goals each to give their team a clear lead of 26-22. Soon, Al-Najma wilted under pressure as the lead widened further.
Earlier, Al-Qaeda (Kuwait) defeated Al-Arabi (Qatar) by 28-27 in a thrilling match for the third place.
State IT Department Principal Secretary Jayesh Ranjan, Youth services and Sports department Secretary Sandeep Kumar Sultania, International Handball Federation (IHF) Vice-president Bader Altheyab, Handball Federation of India (HFI) President A. Jaganmohan Rao, gave away the prizes.
