Al-Kuwait Club wins 24th Asian Handball Men's Club League Championship

Al-Najma, who competed hard until the last five minutes of the match, caved in to the pressure in the final moments.

Published : Jul 01, 2022 11:26 IST

Al-Kuwait Club won the 24th Asian Handball Men's Club League Championship defeating Al-Najma (Bahrain) 28-23 in the final in Hyderabad on Thursday night.

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.