Bahrain outclass Estonia in handball friendly

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain’s senior men’s national handball team outclassed their counterparts from Estonia 36-25 last night in an international friendly match played at the Khalifa Sports City Arena in Isa Town.

The game was part of the Bahrainis’ preparations for their historic debut in the men’s handball tournament at this month’s Tokyo Olympic Games. The two teams are scheduled to meet twice more in warm-ups this week at the same venue. Their second game will be tomorrow, followed by their third on Wednesday.

Bahrain had a good start and scored seven unanswered goals to build a 14-4 lead nearing the end of the first half. They held a 17-11 advantage at the break and then raised their level in the final 30-minute period. Skipper Hussain Al Sayyad top-scored for the home side with eight goals. Bahrain head coach Aron Kristjansson has a squad of 24 players to select from during their friendly matches.

Following last night’s match, Estonia national team head coach Thomas Sivertsson was quoted as saying: “This game was a good opportunity for us to wake up the so-called handball body. Of course, everyone has worked independently in the summer, but it is not the same as training effectively with the team. Bahrain is already in the Olympic camp for the third week and approaching top form.” They include Al Sayyad, Mohammed Mirza, Mohammed Abdulhussain, Hassan Shehab, Hassan Al Samaheeji, Ali Mirza, Jassim Al Salatna, Ahmed Almaqabi, Ali Eid, Mahdi Saad, Mohammed Habib, Mohammed Abdulredha, Ali Abdulqader, Ajmed Jalal, Belal Basham, Kumail Mahfoodh, Hasan Madan, Qassim Al Shuwaikh, Hussain Mahfoodh, Mohammed Nasser, Qassim Qambar, Hassan Mirza, Hisham Ahmed Isa and Muntadher Ebrahim.

Aside from their warm-up games against Estonia, the nationals are also set to face off with Argentina upon their arrival in Tokyo, ahead of the Games. The Bahrainis are hoping to play further friendlies, with the other possible opponents being Brazil, Germany and Norway. For the men’s handball tournament at the Olympics, Bahrain will be in Group B of the preliminary stage.

They will be up against Egypt, Portugal, hosts Japan, world championship silver-medallists Sweden, and reigning world and Olympic champions Denmark. Group A consists of Norway, France, Germany, Brazil, Spain and Argentina.

The action kicks off on July 24 and will continue until August 8. The Bahrainis open their tournament campaign against Sweden on day one. They then take on Portugal on July 26, and then face Denmark two days later. Bahrain then squares off with fellow-Asian side Japan on July 30, before completing the preliminaries against Egypt on August 1.

The Bahrainis booked their berth at the Tokyo Games after winning the Men’s Asian Qualification Tournament held in Doha in October of 2019, defeating South Korea in the final.