Dragan Gajic of Qatar’s Al Sadd poses with his trophy after winning the Best Player award in the Super Globe 2012 handball tournament in Doha yesterday. Al Sadd beat   Egypt’s Al Zamalek to finish third

By N.D. Prashant/Doha

Atletico Madrid avenged their final loss to THW Kiel of Germany last year by winning the IHF Super Globe handball tournament here at the Al Gharafa Arena yesterday.
The Spanish side won the contest 28-23 to take sweet revenge over THW Kiel after being on level terms (13-13) at breather. Madrid, for their effort, were richer by $400,000 while Kiel bagged a purse of $200,000.
The third place and prize money of $150,000 was claimed by hosts Al Sadd, who beat Egypt’s Al Zamalek 32-26.
It may be recalled that THW Kiel had dashed Atletico Madrid’s hat-trick opportunity with a 28-25 drubbing in 2011, but yesterday, they had to be content with second.
After an evenly contested first session, Madrid managed to break away midway through the second half. At 20-19, Madrid suddenly surged ahead by scoring six goals in a row. Alva Ferrer was the one to provide the impetus with a free throw goal. Thereafter, Xavier Barachet and Jos Masachs came up with back-to- back goals with fast breaks. Mariusz Jurkiewicz then widened the lead to 24-19 with a strike from the left.
Buoyed by the quick strikes, Barachet and Kiril Lazarov also got into the scoring act as the Kiel forwards were repeatedly being thwarted in their effort by the strong Madrid defence. All credit to Madrid’s custodian Jose Hombardos on whom the team had been heavily relying after their backup custodian got injured. Like in previous matches, Hombardos was simply exceptional under the framework.
Once in the driver’s seat, Madrid sealed their defence and did not give Kiel any opportunity to weave a comeback.
“It was important and emotional for us. Last night, we got the news that Kiril Lazarov’s father has passed away. Despite that, my team put up a great show to win the title. We would like to dedicate the victory to his father,” said Madrid
coach Talant Dujshebaev.
Kiel coach Alfred Gislason was of the view that his team lost their way in the second session. “We just didn’t play well in the second half. All credit to the way Madrid played; they deserved to win today. We struggled in the defence and it had nothing to do with the absorbing match against Al Sadd in the semis. We just didn’t play well,” a dejected Gislason said.
Earlier, Qatar’s Al Sadd put a heart-breaking 33-32 semi-final loss against Atletico Madrid behind them to register an authoritative victory over Egypt’s Al Zamalek in the battle for third place. The hosts won the contest 32-26 after leading 16-11 at the breather.
Once again, it was their star player Dragan Gajic who was at his dominating best with nine goals. He was well supported by Mustafa Kard (7 goals) and Sid Kenaoui (5 goals). For the Egyptians, Ahmed Mostafa al- Ahmr came out with a standout performance scoring 10 goals.
“We were short of two of our key players – Nikola Karabatic and Wissem Tej. Karabatic was injured and Tej was out due to suspension. However, our defence rose to the occasion and did well to hold the experienced Egyptian forwards,” said an elated Al Sadd coach Patrice Canayer. The Frenchman was also of the view that the experience gained by the local players in the Al Sadd team will do a world of good to the sport here in Qatar.
“The local players jelled well with the French players and this will definitely do wonders for the sport of handball here. Overall, I’m very pleased with the effort of the local players and this experience must have done a world of good,” added Canayer.
A fourth place finish was more than relieving for Al Zamalek’s assistant coach Ayman Aslan Abdelhamied.
“To finish fourth among the top and these high budget teams is more than what we could have asked for. You all know the situation back home and we are struggling for finance. We also tried for sponsorship here in Qatar and Kuwait as well but failed to get any response. Considering all these factors to finish in the top four is a creditable performance,” said Abdelhamied.
Qatar’s El Jaish’s team management will also be happy with the way their side fared in the tournament especially, in the latter part. Yesterday, they registered their third successive victory to clinch the fifth place. El Jaish comprehensively defeated Brazilian side Metodista Sao Bernardo 31-23. For El Jaish, Amine Khedher top scored with five goals. Useful contributions of four goals apiece also came from Bojan Skoko, Nikola Manojlovic and Yure Dolenec. For Sao Bernardo, Thiago Cruz’s score emerged as the best with seven goals.
The seventh spot was claimed by Asian club champions Mudhar of Saudi Arabia beating Sydney University 34-21. At the break, Mudhar led 17-11. Amine Bannour impressed with 14 goals for Mudhar. Lot of credit should go to their custodian Mohamed Abdul Hussain for his exceptional performance under the bar.