UAE capture GCC handball crown

The UAE won the ninth GCC juniors handball championship in style beating Qatar 28-20 to collect the maximum 12 points from four matches, as Bahrain came second and Saudi Arabia third.

The hosts, UAE, were slow in starting the match. They had already realised that they would win the title whatever the result of their last match as Bahrain had drawn with Qatar a day earlier thus killing their hopes of retaining the title which they won in 1997 in Doha, Qatar.

The UAE needed six minutes to score their first goal. Their custodian Saeed Rashid, though, was in a class of his own, saving many chances from Qatari players in that time in which the visitors scored a single goal. Saeed, brought out four amazing saves to keep his team well in contention.

His outstanding performance encouraged his team mates to do their best and concentrate more in finishing their attacking moves. And they were soon exchanging attacks with their Qatari counterparts.

The score was tied for most of the match at 6-6 but the home team's defence committed several mistakes in covering, which led to Qatar leading 10-7 following some fancy footwork and accurate shooting from Mohammed Waleed.

The UAE scored twice to reduce the deficit to 10-9 but they were again caught off guard to finish the first half trailing 12-13.

The second half witnessed the come back of the UAE, led by the outstanding performance of their winger Jumaa Obaid.

He scored 12 goals in the match, breaking through the Qatari defence repeatedly, assisted by accurate moves from his colleagues, especially the captain, Saeed Hassan, who was brilliant in long range shots.

The UAE levelled the score and went on to lead 16-14 and then 20-17. They scored five successive goals to increase their lead margin to 25-17.

The last few minutes witnessed complete dominance of the home team, as coach Sayed Sulaiman gave a chance to all his players to take part in the match to end it 28-20.

Sulaiman said after the match that he was happy with the title. "But I am more pleased with the fact that the UAE's handball game is on the right path to achieve progress and improvement in the near future, as the "Hope Team" showed in this championship that they are a base for an able team of the future."

"I believe that all the players deserve credit for their efforts as they won all their four matches and were able to secure the title even before yesterday's match against Qatar.

"Winning the last match was important psychologically as we in the technical staff, did not want the players to take Qatar for granted after we had already secured the title. Coming back in the second half was a big achievement and proves that the players have gained some experience," Sulaiman added.

Earlier in the day, Saudi Arabia was forced to draw against Oman 30-30, with Oman surprisingly leading the first half 14-13 for the first time in the tournament.

It was the only positive result for Oman who showed great capabilities in their matches, but lack of experience prevented them from emerging winners in many matches.

Ahmed Nasir Al Fardan, the President of the UAE Handball Association, Darwish Ahmed, the vice president, Saeed Hamad Al Suwaidi, the Secretary General, and Abdul Mohsin Al Dossary from the Public Authority for Youth and Sports, presented the trophies and medals to the winners and honoured the pioneering retired referees who had helped in improving the game in the UAE.

It was the third time the UAE won the title. They had won the first and second championships back in 1982 and 1987.