The Saudi handball team lose a tight match 34-33 to EC Pinheiros of Brazil at King Abdullah Sports City in Jeddah JEDDAH: Saudi Arabian handball club Al-Noor lost 34-33 to EC Pinheiros of Brazil in their 2021 IHF Men’s Super Globe quarterfinal match at King Abdullah Sports City in Jeddah on Wednesday. EC Pinheiros qualified for the tournament as winners of the 2021 South and Central America Handball Confederation (SCAHC) Club Championship, while Al-Noor were present as one of two representatives from host country Saudi Arabia, alongside Al-Wehda. Al-Noor put up a game effort against their South American opponents and trailed 19-16 at half time. They even outscored EC Pinheiros by 17 points to 15 in the second half but that proved agonizingly short of a winning total. In Wednesday’s first match, SC Magdeburg of Germany defeated Al-Duhail of Qatar, winners of the 2021 AHF Men’s Asian Club League Championship, 35-23 to advance to the semifinals. Al-Wehda reached the last eight on Tuesday after defeating North America and the Caribbean Handball Confederation champions San Francisco CalHeat 29-20.