Bahrain bow to France in handball quarters

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain’s dream run in the men’s handball tournament at the Tokyo Olympic Games came to an end yesterday with a 28-42 loss to France in their quarter-final match. The Bahrainis were eliminated from further contention with the result. Despite this, they had a remarkable campaign at the Japanese capital, making history by reaching the last eight on their Olympic debut. The French move on to the final four where they will play Egypt, who defeated Germany 31-26. The other semi-final will be contested between reigning world and Olympic champions Denmark and Spain.

The Danes defeated Norway 31-25 yesterday while the Spaniards stunned Sweden 34-33 in their contest. For Bahrain, they did well to stay within striking distance for much of the first half. But after four unanswered goals allowed France to stretch their lead to 18-12, they took full control. The French led 21-14 heading into the break and then enjoyed leads as big as 16 goals over the final 30-minute period.

Bahrain captain Hussain Al Sayyad paced the national team with five goals, while Mohammed Habib, Ali Mirza and Ali Eid all finished with four. Ahmed Almaqabi chipped in with three goals, Hasan Ali, Ahmed Fadhul and Mohamed Mohamed each had two; while Hassan Al Samaheeji and Mohammed Mirza rounded out the scoresheet.

Kentin Mahe had nine goals to lead France, who had all their players make it onto the scoresheet, with exception to their goalkeepers. Bahrain, coached by former Iceland international Aron Kristjansson, have now wrapped up their historic campaign at the Tokyo Olympics, where they were able to get one victory from all their games, which was enough to secure their quarter-final berth.