(MENAFN- The Peninsula) On a good day for Qatari clubs, Asian champions El Jaish moved into the semi-finals of the IHF Super Globe 2014 after routing Brazil's Taubate 37-27 for their second consecutive victory at the Qatar Handball Association Complex yesterday.
Al Sadd brought delight to home fans as they bounced back from the opening day's defeat to edge out Esperance Tunis 30-29 in a thriller to stay alive in the tournament.
Defending champions FC Barcelona, having defeated Al Sadd in their first match, booked their berth in the semi-finals after crushing Sydney University HC's resistance for a 34-18 victory in the first game of the second day of the prestigious championship.
On the other hand, another local club Al Ahli, the wild card entrants lost to SG Flensburg Handewitt 20-29 as the European champions became the third side to advance into the semi-finals.
"My players did a good job," El Jaish coach Zoran Kastratovic told reporters following the victory.
"We were very good in the second half and I congratulate my team for the victory. I also congratulate Taubate for their performance in the first half."
Spurred with a brilliant show by the duo of Zarko Markovic and Ahmed Elahmar Ahmed, El Jaish managed to prevail over a brilliant fight by Pan American club champions Taubate to become first team from Group A to enter the pre-finals.
The Brazilians started off well and were leading 6-3 before the home team took the team's first time out. The Asian champions came back as an improved side and launched an aggressive strategy to take Taubate under pressure.
Despite a gallant display by goal-keeper Malik Santos, El Jaish secured a lead of 13-11 at one stage and went into the half-time with a 15-14 lead.
The first few minutes of the final session also saw an even contest before Markovic and Ahmed begun to defy the opposition's defence. Markovic, the left-handed goal-machine scored eight times while Ahmed struck nine goals in the match to take things beyond the Brazilians.
Although the two victories have sealed the place for El Jaish in the semi-finals, the coach said they will give their hundred percent in their last group match against SG Flensberg as both teams will fight for top spot in the group today.
"We are all dreaming for a place in final but now we are thinking about the Flensburg game. They are the European champions and we will give our best to win so that we can top the group and face the second best team of other group in the semi-finals," said El Jaish coach.
Meanwhile, Bannour Amine excelled by scoring 13 goals to led Al Sadd's superb fightback for a close win over African champions Esperance Tunis in Group B.
Al Sadd were down 12-15 at the breather but in the second half they turned the course of the match for an impressive victory.
Apart from Amine, Husain Al Sayyad amd Mario Tomic chipped in with four goals each for the winning team. The Doha-based club now need a win over Sydney Uni HC in today's game and hope for FC Barcelona's win over the Tunis' side, earlier on the day to avoid calculations for the semi-final berth. Al Sadd will have to repeat their yesterday's performance if they are aiming to beat the Sydney based club as they impressed with their show against the defending champions.
Although FC Barcelona clinched the game 34-18, Sydney made the holders run for money particularly in the first half in which they just allowed them a slim lead of 12-15.
Meanwhile, in the last match of the day, Al Ahli went down fighting against Flensburg after a good first half.
The local side in front of the home crowd gave a good fight in the opening session which they leveled by 13-13 before Flensburg took control of the second half's proceedings to win the Group B match and advance into the knock-out stage of the tournament.
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