BATTLING HARD: Action from the match between Barcelona Intersport and Al Rayyan at the Gharafa Sports Club yesterday. PICTURE: Anas Khalid
Barcelona Intersport of Spain launched its Super Globe campaign on a winning note defeating Al Rayyan of Qatar 38-25 here at the Al Gharafa Stadium yesterday.
The Spanish side had finished runners-up in the European Handball Federation’s (EHF) Final-Four competition, while Al Rayyan had won the Asian club championship.
Boosted by five goals from unstoppable Mohammed alGharaballi before the break and presence of Russian international Vasily Filipov, Rayyan started off well to been on level terms at 11-11 till the 21st minute of the game.
From there on Barcelona stars, who were playing for the first time in the competition, switched to the express mode and raced to 21-14 by scoring 10 times in nine minutes. Barcelona captain Victor Tomas, Kiril Lazarov and former world handball player of the year Nikola Karabatic were outstanding in their opening match. “We needed some time to adapt, but after 20 minutes we had found our rhythm, and then we broke the game.
“We have a great team this year, but we need to prove that we can win the tournament,” Barcelona coach Xavi Pascual said after the match.
“Our young players played well today, especially in the first 20 minutes. Unfortunately our best player Marko Bagaric was injured very early.
“When Barcelona had started to play their regular style, we lacked the experience. But for us it was great to play against Barcelona,” Al Rayyan coach Ilja Puljevic said.
Rayyan player Vladimir Bozic also echoed his coach’s view by saying, “We are far away from the class of Barcelona, as they are the best team in the world. We were really happy to play against them. We enjoyed those first 20 minutes when we were on the same level.”
In the first match of the opening day, winner of the African continental club competition Etoile Sportive du Sahel defeated Brazil’s Taubate 29-24.
The Tunisian team made an impressive start, backed by a brilliant initial performance of goalkeeper Majed Hamza.
The Taubate defence was not able to stop the Northern Africans as they forged ahead to 8-3 with in the first quarter.
It gave a wake-up call to the Pan-American representative, which forced them to change their defence tactics to a highly offensive one.
The Brazilian side reduced the gap and was close to turn the match as they were 11-12. But finally a triple strike right before the break provided Sahel with a quite comfortable 14:11 halftime lead.
In the finals stages the Brazilians again tried their offensive attacks but Sahel players held their nerves as the margin melted down to 22-26. Isaam Rzig struck twice in the dying moments to turn the match in favour of the African side.
In another match, HSV Hamburg’s Mahe kicked a last-gasp penalty to seal a 29-29 draw with the Jasih.
Hosts Al Sadd also won their opening match defeating Sydney University 33-20.