Bahrain’s title hopes end

Bahrain’s quest to claim their first title in the Asian Men’s Handball Championship came to a disappointing end last night, following a 24- 28 loss in the semi-final round against defending champions Qatar at Shaikh Saad Al Abdullah Sports Hall Complex in Kuwait City.

The contest was a re-match of the final in the previous edition of the tournament in 2018, when the Bahrainis were the overall runners-up. But now they are forced to play for only the bronze medals following their disheartening defeat yesterday.

Bahrain take on Japan in the game for third place, scheduled for tomorrow. The Qataris move on to the gold medal match where they will lock horns with South Korea.

The Koreans defeated their Japanese counterparts 34-32 in extra time in yesterday’s other semi-final affair.

Today is a rest day while the competition is scheduled to conclude tomorrow.

The Bahrainis had a horrible start in last night’s contest as they quickly fell into a 0-5 hole. They only scored their first goal after seven minutes of play when Ali Mirza finally found the target.

The Bahrainis were able to fight back to within 7-8, but the Qataris managed to push ahead 11-7.

Bahrain goalkeeper Mohammed Abdulhussain contributed to their score to make it 10-12, but they still trailed at 11-14 the half.

In the final 30-minute period, Bahrain were dealt a major blow just five minutes in when Mirza, who was in inspiring form, was given a red card on a dubious foul call.

His disqualification proved crucial as he was a key piece to their attack, but the Bahrainis were still able to keep things close with goals from Mahdi Saad and captain Hussain Al Sayyad.

Qatar, however, had an answer each time Bahrain attempted to rally and they stretched their lead to as many as six goals late on.

Bahrain made one final push as Al Sayyad brought them to within three, 22-25, but that was as close as they would get the rest of the way with the Qataris closing out strong.

Bahrain’s elimination at the semi-final stage means they will not equal their final classifications from the previous three editions of the tournament, when they finished in second place with Qatar winning the title each time.

The Bahrainis are now hoping to claim their second bronze in the history of the event tomorrow.