By Yash Mudgal/Doha
Defending champions El Jaish started their campaign in the 17th Asian Handball Clubs’ League Championship on a winning note yesterday.
Lekhwiya also made their mark, beating Jordan’s Al Salt 26-22.
Playing without Qatar national team players at the newly-build Ali bin Hamad Al-Attiyah Arena Al Sadd, El Jaish easily defeated Saudi Arabia’s Al Khalij 29-24 in their Group B match.
The Saudi club players put up a decent fight but were not strong enough to pose any serious trouble to the defending champions. The individual strength of Ahmed el-Ahmar (8 goals), Mosbah Sanai (5 goals), and Nidha Aissa (4 goals) dominated the match.
The star ensemble from the host country played like champions in the first half as they took the lead from the word go and maintained it (15-9) till the half-time.
In the second half the visitors regrouped themselves and put up a better show as they reduced the margin to (20-23), but the experience of the armymen proved too much for them in the end. Jasim al-Saltana, with seven goals, was the top scorer for the visitors.
“That is a good start for us, better than we expected, although in the first half we struggled and due to some technical errors we were trailing by six goals. In the second half though we played much better and we were better the side,” al-Saltana said.
Despite the victory Jaish coach Zoran Kastratovic was not satisfied with his team’s performance in the match.
“It was a tough game, the first official one for us after the IHF Super Globe in September. It was very difficult to find our rhythm after such a long time without some real action and that’s why we made so many technical mistakes. I am not satisfied with our defiance in the second half,” said Kastratovic, who also led Jaish to a fourth place finish at the 2014 Super Globe.
Jaish have enjoyed strong results this season. They not only won their second league title, but also the Emir Cup, making it a memorable double. The Army team also became Asian champions for the first time in their short history – making this year the most successful in their club’s history.
Commenting over the absence of Qatar national team players in the tournament Kastratovic said: “They are dedicated to Qatar’s national team, which is preparing for the World Championship, and at the moment I cannot count on them.”
This is Al Khalij first appearance in the Asian Clubs’ League Championship since the 2011 edition where they finished fourth, their best result in the competition. They are also two-time winners of the Arab Champions Cup, 2002 and 2007, and four-time runners-up. Khalij’s have recently signed Algerian Zienaldeen ‘Zinho’ Al Shaghir as coach, who led them to the league title in the 1990s.
Earlier in the first match of the opening day, Iranian club Manyazom Janob defeated Oman’s Ahli Sidab 33-18 and Al Qurain Sporting Club from Kuwait defeated Iranian team Samenalhojaj 32:28.
“The first game of every tournament is always tricky. We were very nervous in the beginning, maybe because we knew that our opponents had some really great players in their squad. We managed to solve our problems, especially in defence and we achieved a great result against a very good team,” Kuwait club’s Messaoud Berkous said.
The Iranian team will take on Qatar’s Lekhwiya in their second match today.
“We didn’t adjust our defence to their game and our offence to their open defence. We tried step by step during the game to fix things. We don’t have time to rest and think more as tomorrow another difficult game against a tough opponent (Lekhwiya) awaits us,” Samenalhojaj coach Rafael Guijosa, who successfully led Iran to their first ever World Championship earlier this year, said.
The semifinals will be played on December 6 and the final will be held on December 8.
