?Bahrain’s Al Ahli Club volleyball team title chances in the Second Arab Women’s Sports Tournament, being held in Sharjah, suffered a major blow yesterday (Feb. 9).
In their fifth match in the volleyball tournament, the Bahrainis went down 1-3 (25-27, 23-25, 25-10, 19-25) to Al Wasl of the UAE at Sharjah Ladies Club Gym for their second defeat in the competition.
Al Ahli was heavily relying on its American professional Ruth Cay, along with some of Bahrain’s promising volleyball local talents like Hessa Al Isa, Najla Turab, Hajer Al Ansari, playmaker Marwa Shamsan and libero Fayza Sayyar.
This was the penultimate game for Al Ahli, who now play their fifth and concluding game in the competition today against Saham of Oman at 9am (Bahrain time).
Al Ahli will be seeking the full two points from today’s game and hope that other match results would serve them to claim a place on the podium.
In other matches today, Olympic Club of Jordan meet Al Wasl at 11.30am, then Kuwait Girls Club face Sharjah Ladies Club at 1pm to decide the title winner.
The Bahraini club started the tournament with a 1-3 defeat to Kuwait Girls Club, but hit back with a stunning 3-2 victory over defending champions Sharjah Ladies Club. This was followed by a 3-0 wins over Jordan Olympic Club and Yemen.
Meanwhile, in the basketball tournament, Bahrain representatives Muharraq Club were sent out crashing as they suffered a narrow 67-73 defeat to contenders Kuwait Girls Club yesterday at Sharjah Cultural Club Gym.
Yesterday’s game was the last opportunity for Muharraq to fight for a place on the podium after they were handed three straight defeats earlier in the competition to Sharjah Ladies Club, Jordan’s Contractors Club and Qatar Women’s Club.
The only win so far the Bahrainis was beating Bani Yas Club of the UAE 74-59 on Saturday. Muharraq have now lost all hope of finishing in the top four in the preliminary round and qualify for the semi-finals.
A host of female sportswomen from 14 different Arab countries are competing across seven different sports until February 12 in various venues in Sharjah.
Bahrain delegation head Shaikha Hayat bint Abdulaziz Al Khalifa, who is also in charge of the tournament’s supervising and follow up committee, was on hand to honour the winners of the archery competition.
Sharjah Ladies Club dominated the event in the under-17 age category, while Algeria came on top in the under-20, followed by Egypt in second place, while Qatar and Sudan shared third position.
The event, which aims to give a boost to women sports in the Arab world, is the largest of its kind in the region and brings together clubs from Jordan, Algeria, Iraq, Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Lebanon, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain, Yemen, Kuwait, Palestine and the UAE.
The seven sports that can be witnessed, free of charge to all members of the public are basketball, volleyball, table tennis, fencing, archery, shooting, and athletics.
The nine venues playing host to the various competitions include the Higher Colleges of Technology Sharjah, Al Shaab Cultural and Sports Club, Al Thiqah Club for Handicapped, Al Andalus School, Sharjah Ladies Club, Al Dhaid Sports and Cultural Club, Wasit Youth Center, Sharjah University, and the Sharjah Cultural and Sports Club.