League champions bring in new coach

Dubai: Handball League champions Al Nasr have signed Tunisian coach Mohammad Ali Al Saghir to work with their senior team for the coming season.

Al Saghir replaces Algerian Omar Al Azeb, who coached Al Nasr last season and helped them to win the league title.

The Tunisian coach is no stranger to UAE handball after he trained Al Shabab and won the FA cup with them two years ago.

He has also worked as a coach in his homeland with the side Esperance.

They won the FA cup, Super Cup and many other titles in domestic and Arab tournaments.

He also trained the Tunisian national youth team and led them to win the Arab youth championships in 1998.

Al Nasr's preparations for the new season are set to begin tomorrow at the Rashid Bin Hamdan indoor sports hall.

The team will conduct a three weeks training camp in Turkey from August 2nd to 23rd.

The first challenge for the league champions will be the FA cup.

It will be played in September during the holy month of Ramadan as the opening tournament of the the 2008-2009 season.