CASABLANCA, May 1: The Kuwaiti youth handball team secured the second position in the Arab Youth Handball Championship recently concluded in Casablanca, Morocco. The thrilling final match against the Moroccan team ended in a penalty shootout, with a score of 4-5 in favor of the hosts. The intense battle saw the first half ending 11-10 in favor of the Kuwaiti team before the regulation time ended in a 24-24 tie, leading to two additional periods. Even after these extensions, with the first ending 26-26 and the second 28-28, the teams proceeded to two more additional periods as per the game's regulations. The match finally concluded with penalty kicks favoring the Moroccan team. Tunisia defeated Saudi Arabia 28-27 for the bronze medal.

Iskandar Juffali from Tunisia claimed the top scorer title. At the same time, Qasim Al Turki from Saudi Arabia and Muhammad bin Hussein from Tunisia received the awards for the best player and best goalkeeper, respectively. The winning teams were honored by Fadel Al-Nimr, the President of the Arab Handball Federation, and Adly Al-Hanafi, the President of the Moroccan Handball Federation.

In another development, the twelfth round of the Handball League "Merge" is set to commence today, featuring three matches. Sulaibikhat, ranked seventh with 11 points, will face Al-Qurain, positioned tenth with seven points, followed by a game between Burgan, placed sixth with 12 points, and Al-Fahaheel, ninth with eight points. The day's matches will conclude with a game between Khaitan, positioned twelfth with four points, and Kazma ranked fourth with 16 points.

The league still has a final round with two postponed matches remaining. Following its completion, the top six teams will advance to compete in the Premier League, while the remaining teams will participate in the first division.

Khaled El Anzi

Al-Seyassah/Arab Times Staff