Bahrain to play for Asian handball gold
TDT | Manama
The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com
Bahrain barged into the gold medal match of the 2022 Asian Men’s Handball Championship in Saudi Arabia last night following a well-deserved 29-20 victory over the hosts in their semi-final clash.
The Bahrainis will now face defending four-time defending champions Qatar in the title-decider, scheduled for tomorrow. Bahrain are playing in their fourth final in the last five editions of the tournament, while Qatar will be competing for their fifth straight gold. The two Gulf sides met in three successive championship games in 2014, 2016 and 2018, all of which were won by the Qataris.
Qatar were 34-19 victors against Iran in yesterday’s other final four fixture. Bahrain is now aiming to secure their first-ever Asian title, while Qatar will be hoping to win gold for the fifth time. Bahrain has been runners-up in four past editions and bronze-medallists once, while the Qataris have twice won the silver and the bronze medals another two times.
In Bahrain’s win last night, the nationals led 16-9 at the half and raised their level over the final 30 minutes en route to the final buzzer.
The nationals lived up to their tag as the favoured team to march through to the final, but now face their toughest test of the tournament. Yesterday’s win was their seventh straight in Saudi, and they hope to end the championship with a clean sweep of all their games. The Bahrainis were undefeated in both the preliminary phase and main round before heading into the semi-finals.
Team captain Hussain Al Sayyad was once again their leading scorer, finishing the affair with six goals from 10 attempts. Ali Eid contributed four goals from five tries, while a perfect three-of-three from the field were Ahmed Fadhul and Mohammed Mirza.
Hassan Samaheeji and Mohammed Habib also chipped in with three goals apiece from four attempts, while scoring two goals each were Ali Mirza, Mahdi Saad and Mohammed Habib Nasser.
The Bahrain scoresheet was rounded off by Qassim Qamber with one goal. Goalkeeper Mohammed Abdulhussain also had an impressive showing with 14 saves in the match for the national team, who are coached by Icelandic tactician Aron Kristjansson. Tomorrow’s final is scheduled for a 6 pm start, Bahrain time.
It will be played at the Ministry of Sports Hall in Dammam. Also, tomorrow, losing semi-finalists Iran and Saudi will be facing off for the bronze medals. Today, South Korea and Iraq battle for fifth place, while Uzbekistan and Kuwait clash for seventh. In ninth through 16th, respectively, are the UAE, Oman, Hong Kong, Jordan, Vietnam, Singapore, India and Australia.
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