Ahli was within a whisker of winning the world handball club championship, reports Inas Mazhar Just 14 seconds separated Ahli and the world handball club championship. Ahli could have levelled the score against Ciudad Real of Spain in the 2007 Super Globe World title. Ahli needed a victory or a draw to snatch the title from the giants of Europe. Until the last minute, Ahli was tied with the visitors 28- 28, before the Spaniards took advantage of two fatal mistakes by the home team to score the winner. It was 14 seconds to go and Ahli had the ball, backed by the roars of more than 1,500 spectators in the stands. But the ball got away and so too the game. Despite the loss, Ahli fans stayed until the end of the closing ceremony to cheer the winning teams. Ciudad Real received their gold medals and $30,000 in prize money. The hosts were decorated with the silver medal and $20,000 whereas the bronze medalists Mouloudia claimed $15,000 as prize money. Earlier, Mouloudia beat Qadsyia of Kuwait for the bronze medal. Metodista of Brazil, who could only beat Qadsyia, finished fourth while the Asian representatives lost all their matches to finish bottom of the standings. Five teams took part in the one-week event, representing each continent: Mouloudia of Algeria from Africa, Qadsyia of Kuwait from Asia, Metodista of Brazil from Latin America, Ciudad Real of Spain representing Europe and the host team Ahli as the tournament oganiser. The third edition of the Super Globe was held in Ahli club of Egypt. The club of the century had applied for the event as part of its centennial anniversary celebrations. Egyptians were also happy with two of the club's players being awarded best player and best goalkeeper. Hani El-Fakharani was selected the tournament's best player and Mohamed El-Nakeeb was named best goalkeeper. Mouloudia was voted best sportsmanship team while a Ciudad player was top scorer. Goalkeeper El-Nakeeb joined Ahli on loan from Olympi club of Alexandria just to strengthen Ahli's team. The goalie of the Egyptian national team since 1993 played during Egypt's golden days for the past decade and has vast experience compared to the other two Ahli goalkeepers. El-Nakeeb's arrival in Ahli was prophetic; 20 minutes after the tournament began, El-Nakeeb carried the full responsibility when Ahli's first string goalkeeper El-Sayed Mohamed was seriously injured in the knee, an injury that will keep him away for six months. Ciudad coach Raul Gonzalez had been quoted more than once as saying he had come to Egypt to win the event. After the match, he said despite the enthusiastic support of the home crowd, they were still confident of the win, even when Ahli was leading by three goals in the first half . "The media here said the home team would win the event. But with all respect to them, I was sure from the beginning we would be the winners and we did it," Gonzalez said. The Spaniards, who displayed world-class performances and won all their four matches in the tournament, were angered after their second match when player and head coach Talaant Dujshebaev was shown the red card against Mouloudia for attacking an Algerian player. The following day, the International Handball Federation suspended Dujshebaev for one year and Algerian goalkeeper El-Slahegi for six months for misconduct. "He is not only a player but a coach of his team as well and should be a role model for his players," IHF Managing Director Frank Birkefeld said. "What will the players do when they see him reacting this way. He is the most experienced player in this tournament and should control himself. It's very strange because I've known the player for years now and he is not as he appeared during that match." The 39-year-old Dujshebaev was twice named the world's best player in 1994 and 1996. The former Russian had led the Spanish national team to the World Handball Championship title in 2005 in Tunisia. Dujshebaev told reporters the following day that he was sorry but had been "very nervous" during the match. "Every game has its own conditions." The disappointed Egyptian coach Zoran Koritch congratulated the winning team and said his players committed some mistakes at the end that caused them to lose the title. Before the match he had said he was going to face a strong team whose members are either on the Spanish national team or foreigners who are on his country's respective national team. "It's a world-selection team," Koritch said. Koritch had taken the helm at Ahli just weeks before the tournament began. Gaafar Bel-Hussein, head coach of Mouloudia, said he was pleased with the third place finish in the tournament. "After losing the chance to compete for second and first place, we were focussed on winning third place. We managed to beat the only rivals left, Metodista of Brazil, and claimed third place. But next time, if we are African representatives again, we'll prepare better and will be looking for the title," Bel-Hussein said. The head coach of Metodista blamed the exhaustion of his players because of a long 18-hour trip from Brazil to Egypt which brought them to Cairo on the eve of the tournament. Jet lag and a visa delay were the reasons for his team's fourth place finish. Metodista is the most successful team in South America and was the only team in the Super Globe in all its three edition. Qadsyia head coach blamed the absence of his team's key players because of exams to the team losing all its matches. "I'm also the head coach of the national Kuwaiti team and took over Qadsyia only for this tournament but I didn't have enough time," he said. The real success of the tournament was its organisation. According to IHF officials and delegates of the participating teams, the tournament was perfect and the best ever in the history of the Super Globe events. The first event was held in 1998 in Austria and the second in 2002 in Qatar. "The tournament is not stable because there are no sponsors," IHF Secretary- General Peter Mulhamater said. "We need to attract a main sponsor just like the FIFA World Club Championship which started the same way. But when FIFA found a sponsor, it became an annual event. We hope we manage to find a sponsor so that the Super Globe becomes an annual event as well. But, it's not easy to find a sponsor. "Who knows, maybe after the success of this tournament, it could attract sponsors." The head of the organising committee Hisham Said said he was happy with the tournament and the positive feedback he had received from participants. Said said he would propose to the board of directors that the Super Globe be held annually at Ahli club.
