Khaleej Club bounced back after the first day loss against SC Magdeburg at the 2023 IHF Men’s Super Globe and delivered an excellent performance to take a 48:26 win against the University of Queensland, which made their debut in the competition.

GROUP C
Khaleej Club (KSA) vs University of Queensland (AUS) 48:26 (26:12)

University of Queensland were one of the two teams making their debut in this edition of the IHF Men’s Super Globe, with the other side, San Fernando HB, losing twice and conceding at least 41 goals in each match.

UQ’s task was somehow daring, especially as Khaleej Club looked primed to deliver a good performance, in front of over 3.000 fans, which came to the Dammam Sports Hall to cheer for their favourites, despite the loss against SC Magdeburg, 20:29, on Tuesday, which virtually saw the German champions earning a place in the semi-finals.

With players like Petar Nenadic and Mamdouh Shebib in the line-up, Khaleej wasted no time, with the Serbian left back doing a bit of everything in the first 15 minutes, when he took on the court, with two goals and four outstanding assists to create a 13:6 lead.

From that moment on, it was all Khaleej, who basically delivered another 13:6 partial in the next 15 minutes of the match, fueled by 10 converted fast breaks, four each for right wing Hassan Al Traiki and left wing Ali Al Meskeen.

While at the break the score was 26:12, the gap grew in the second half, where coach Dimitris Dimitroulias rotated his squad to the extent that all the 14 outfield players scored at least one goal, with Hassan Al Traiki being the top scorer of the match, with seven goals.

The University of Queensland did get a bit better in attack, but failed to really make a mark on the match, with the Saudi side cruising to their maiden win in this edition of the IHF Men’s Super Globe, 48:26.

It was their largest win in history at the IHF Men’s Super Globe, beating the previous record of 15 goals, set against another Australian side, Sydney-Uni, in the last edition, Khaleej have all but ensured the second place in this group. Moreover, this was also the second largest win registered so far in this edition of the competition, with Barca's 24-goal win against Al-Noor still the record.

On the other hand, UQ have still a game in hand, but will face the reigning champions, SC Magdeburg, as they will likely end up on the last place in the group and head to the Placement Matches 9/12, due to start on Saturday.

hummel Player of the Match: Hussain Al Mohsen (Khaleej Club)