Al-Ahly topped the Saudi Women's Premier League standings on goal difference, following the conclusion of the opening round of the tournament.
Al-Nasr opened its campaign in the tournament by defeating NEOM with three free goals, in the confrontation that brought them together at Al-Nasr Club Stadium in Riyadh, to score the first three points in the journey to compete for the title.
Also in Riyadh, Al-Ittihad succeeded in defeating Al-Hilal with a score of 3-1 at the Inaya Medical College Stadium, occupying third place in the standings on goal difference behind Al-Ahly and Al-Nasr.
Esperance lost to its guest, Al-Ahly, 5-1. Al-Ahly’s goals were scored by Chinaza “two goals,” Ruth Bravo, Dana Fahd, and Maha Mohamed, while player Ajigbena scored Esperance’s only goal.
In Medina, Al-Qadisiyah snatched a difficult victory against its host, Al-Ula, with a goal to none, scored by the Spanish expatriate Aster Gonzalez in the 52nd minute of the match.
With these results, Al-Ahly topped the standings with three points and a difference of four goals, followed by Al-Nasr, Al-Ittihad and Al-Qadisiyah with the same score, while Al-Ula, Al-Hilal, NEOM and Esperance remained without points after the end of the first round.
The fifth classification championship for padel was concluded in Jeddah, with the participation of 526 male and female players, who competed in a number of classification categories on the “Paddle Inn” courts in Souq 7.
The conclusion of the tournament witnessed the coronation of the first-place finishers in the various categories, as the duo Abdullah Al-Abdullah and Jorge Vega achieved first place in the men’s “A” category, while Omar Al-Thaqib and Sattam Al-Shahrani came in second place.
In the men’s “B” category, Talal Al-Barazi and Muhammad Hadi won first place, and Munir Al-Sari and Ahmed Al-Mulqi came in second place. Fawaz Al-Yousef and Abdullah Al-Hassan took the lead in the men’s “C” category, while Abdullah Modhesh and Muhammad Dayel came in second place.
As for the men’s “D” category, Hadi Zahid and Abdul Rahman Abdul Shakour won first place, while Ahmed Al Harbi and Ibrahim Henedy won second place.
In the women's competition, Samaher Kurdi and Gabriella won first place in the “A” category, and Lina Al-Abdullatif and Alina came in second place. In the “B” category, Tala Abdat and Dhi Muhammad achieved first place, and Jana Bukhari and Dania Metwally came in second place.
In the junior category, Reda Khashoggi and Raed Al-Abdulbaqi won first place, while Abdul Majeed Hakim and Abdullah Zitouni came in second place.
Belgian Yannick Carrasco, Al-Shabab’s captain, expressed his regret for the draw against Al-Fayhaa, stressing that “Al-Laith” played a distinguished group match and deserved a better result, in light of the defensive formation that the opponent relied on.
Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat, Carrasco said: “We deserved more than a draw, and we played an outstanding match from start to finish, but success was not on our side. Al-Fayhaa played with a defensive formation, while we played collectively throughout the match, but we were not lucky.”
Carrasco pointed out that the pressure of matches had an impact on the team during the past matches, explaining: “In previous matches, the team’s performance declined after the 60th minute due to fatigue. We play a match every three days, and new players have also joined us during the recent period, and we need time to achieve harmony.”
The Al-Shabab player stressed that the team needs to achieve one victory to regain confidence, stating: “We need one victory, and we will work during the pause to come back better and make the fans happy.” We will try to return the youth to their normal level and make our fans happy.”
