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Al-Ahram Weekly 1 - 7 April 1999 Issue No. 423 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 1 - 7 April 1999 Issue No. 423
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Focus Interview Profile Features Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Back on centre stage
By Abeer AnwarFollowing a two-year hiatus, Ahli regained the volleyball league title which it had held for six consecutive years. The monopoly had been broken by arch-rival Zamalek which held the crown the past two seasons.
In the decisive match, played under new international rules in which a set goes to 25 points instead of 15, Ahli won 3-1. The new champions won the first set 25-22 in just 22 minutes. Zamalek countered by racing through the second set, winning the first eight points and taking advantage of numerous Ahli faults in defence and reception. To no one's surprise, Zamalek took the second set 25-18 in an even shorter 17 minutes. Ahli drew on the experience of veteran player Emad Farouk, who joined the team this season after five years in Germany, in winning the third set 25-16 in 13 minutes. In the fourth set, Zamalek's Mahmoud Hassouna, one of the team's mainstays, left the game after a leg injury and was substituted by Hesham Eskandarani, a junior who was nowhere to be found whenever Ahli's spikers came to the net. It didn't take long for Ahli players to zero in on Zamalek's Achilles heel and continued to focus their offence on the hapless Eskandarani, winning the fourth set 25-23.
The result gave Ahli the title with a total of 29 points. Zamalek finished second place with 23 points, Tersana third with 21 while Ittihad came in fourth place with 19 points.
Ahli gave Zamalek a bitter defeat to claim the volleyball league title
photo: Medhat Abdel-Megid
Ahli and Zamalek had met each other twice before this season, with Ahli coming out on top both times 3-1 and 3-2. So strong was the club that it did not lose any of its 15 matches while Zamalek lost three, two to Ahli and one to Tersana.
Following its victory over Zamalek, Ahli flew directly to the Czech Republic for a one-week training period after which it travels to Tunisia to play in the African Cup Winners Championship scheduled to begin 4 April. "Regaining the league title will be an incentive for the team and will make the players more determined to retain the African Championship," Ahli's technical manager, Ibrahim Abdel-Qader, said.
The local cup competition is scheduled to start next week and finish by the end of April to give players who are still in school a chance to study and prepare for their exams. Meanwhile, the national team is to regroup after the end of school in preparation for the Arab Games due to be held in Jordan in September. .
