From 29 October to 5 November, eight men’s club
teams from Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain
and Oman came together in Amman, Jordan to compete for the title of Asian Club
League Champions at the 19th edition of the tournament, as well as for a spot
at the 2017 IHF Super Globe. In the end, Al Noor from Saudi Arabia beat Qatar’s
Al Jaish in the final to claim the trophy.
The 19th Asian Men’s Club League Championship started
off with two draws in a row and thus promised to be an exciting competition
right from the beginning. After Gach Oil & Gas (IRI) drew with Al Jazeera
(UAE) 35:35, Al Ahli from Bahrain, who should finish seventh in the end,
challenged Al Noor, the winners of the tournament and ended the match with a
21:21 score at the final buzzer. Al Noor, however, defeated afterwards first Lekhwiya
from Qatar, the 2016 IHF Super Globe participants, by 29:23 and then outclassed
Ahli Sedab (OMA) 41:22 to advance to the semi-finals where they beat Gach Oil
& Gas with ease (35:26). In the final, they had to face Al Jaish, who had
won all of their preliminary round matches against Al Ahli from Jordan (37:17),
Gach Oil & Gas (37:28) and Al Jazeera (37:23) and beat Lekhwiya 28:20 in
the semi-finals. In the final, however, they had to admit defeat after
thrilling 60 minutes. Trailing by one at half-time (10:11), Al Jaish could not
turn the score around and lost to Al Noor by 23:25.
In the match for third-place between Gach Oil
& Gas and Lekhwiya, Gach Oil & Gas could keep up a long time, trailing
only by one at the half-time buzzer (12:13) but in the second half, Lekhwiya put
on a good performance and claimed the bronze medal with a clear 31:21 win.
Al Jazeera ranked fifth in the end, beating
Jordan’s Al Ahli 24:19. After having lost of all their matches, including the
match for 7th place against Bahrain’s Al Ahli (26:42), Ahli Sedab finished at
the bottom.
Result:
1. Al Noor (KSA)
2. Al Jaish (QAT)
3. Lekwhiya (QAT)
4. Gach Oil & Gas (IRI)
5. Al Jazeera (UAE)
6. Al Ahli (JOR)
7. Al Ahli (BRN)
8. Ahli Sedab (OMA)