TDT | Manama
Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com
Bahrain’s Al Najma suffered their first defeat last night in the 26th Asian Men’s Club League Championship, currently being held in Kuwait City.
The reigning champions of the competition lost 21-25 to fellow champions Al Khaleej of Saudi Arabia in the second Group A match of the preliminary round.
Najma fell behind 12-13 in the first half and was unable to recover.
Ironically, Khaleej was spearheaded by Bahrain national team stars Hussein Al Sayyad and Mohamed Abdul-Hussein, both of whom were part of the Najma team that won the last tournament earlier this year. Ta.
Abdulhussain was named Player of the Match last night.
Najma and Khaleej are in the same pool as Qatar’s Al Gharafa, Kuwait’s Kuwait Sports Club and India’s Golden Eagle.
Palestine’s Al Salah was also scheduled to participate, but withdrew.
Group B consists of Kuwait’s Al Qadshiya, India’s Sai, Qatar’s Al Arabi, Iraq’s Al Jaish, Lebanon’s Shabab Saida and UAE’s Al Sharjah.
Najma is scheduled to return to action against Gharafa tonight at 6pm Bahrain time.
Najma will play against Kuwait Sports Club on Friday at 8pm to complete their qualifying round schedule.
After a rest day next Saturday, the top two teams from each group will advance to the semi-finals on November 26th.
The gold and bronze medal matches are scheduled for November 27th.
Najma won the last Asian club title in Isfahan, Iran, earlier this year.
They defeated Qatar’s Al Duhail 31-30 in a match that went into two extra innings.Najuma is only a claim