tdt | Manama
Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com
Dar Kulaib and Nabih Saleh started off victories last night in the second round of the top six stage of the 2023/2024 Bahrain Issa bin Rashid Volleyball League.
Defending champion Dar Kulaib needed to make a great effort to overcome Al-Najma’s inspiring challenge 3-2 (25-18, 25-22, 22-25, 18-25, 15-9); While Nabih Saleh defeated Al-Nasser 3-1 (25-19, 25-16, 12-25, 25-23).
The two closely contested matches were held at the Issa Bin Rashid Hall at the Bahrain Volleyball Association headquarters in Issa Sports City in Riffa.
Dar Kulaib and Nabih Saleh strengthened their bid to secure a place in the semi-finals with last night’s results.
In Dar Kulaib’s win, they got off to a strong start and then fended off Nejmeh’s advances to narrowly win the exciting five-set match.
Dar Kulaib is led by Muhammad Yaqoub, Hassan Aliwi, Ali Habib, Ali Muhammad, Hassan Al Warqa, Abdullah Muhammad, Brazilian Caio Oliveira, and veteran Mahmoud Abdel Wahed, who was playing despite an injury to his left hand.
Fast paced
Al-Najma outperformed Fadel Abbas, Hassan Dhahi, Hussein Mahdi, Mahmoud Hassan, and Swedish professional Jacob Link, but they were unable to outperform their competitors in the end.
Dar Kulaib’s win helped them achieve their fifth top-six finish.
They are virtually guaranteed a place in the quarter-finals.
On the other hand, Al-Najma maintained one victory out of six attempts, and will need to fight in its remaining matches in order to compete for a place in the semi-finals of the semi-finals.
In Nabih Saleh’s victory, the winners were Sayed Hashim Issa, Mohammed Jassim, Hussein Ashour, Hassan Jaafar, the Nigerian professional Oyewale Oyedepo, and others.
Al-Nasser tried to rally behind his big stars Ibrahim Muhammad, Youssef Ali and Muhammad Omar, but he was unable to build on their momentum in the third group.
Nabih Saleh achieved his third victory in six matches and remained in last place to reserve a place in the semi-finals.
Nasser, like Al-Najma, suffered his fifth loss to achieve only one win.
The top six competitions continue tonight, as Al-Ahly will face Al-Muharraq at 6:30 pm at the same venue.