Bahrain suffer heavy defeat to South Korea

TDT | Manama                                                                 

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Two-time defending champions Bahrain were dealt a disheartening 22-39 defeat to contenders South Korea last night in the ninth Asian Men’s Youth (U19) Handball Championship, currently being hosted in Bahrain at the Khalifa Sports City Arena in Isa Town.

The nationals trailed by just a single goal, 16-17, at the interval, but after Hussain Alhayki tied the contest with the first goal of the second half, the South Koreans went on a game-changing 14-1 run.

That included 10 successive unanswered goals as the South Koreans took full control of the contest. The Bahrainis never recovered and slumped to their first loss of the competition following a resounding opening win over Uzbekistan the evening before.

South Korea, on the other hand, claimed their second straight victory and moved top of the Group A standings. Goalkeeper Hyeonmi Kim was named the best player of the match for the victors, registering nine saves.

Others to claim wins during yesterday’s play were Iran in Group A; and Saudi Arabia, Japan and Kuwait in Group B. Today is a rest day and action will resume tomorrow. Bahrain are only back on the playing court on Wednesday against India.

In yesterday’s other Group A contest, Iran enjoyed a one-sided 64-14 win over their Indian counterparts. The Iranians led 31-4 at the half and never looked back, rebounding from their opening day loss to South Korea.

Iran’s Amirhossein Masoudnia was named the best player in the contest. In Group B, Saudi Arabia edged past Qatar 27-24 in a tight contest. The Saudis held a narrow 14-12 lead at the break and did enough to hold on late in the game.

Ahmed Al Saeed was their top performer in the Saudis’ second straight win. Japan also claimed back-to-back victories after overcoming Iraq 36-22. The Japanese led 17-11 before raising their level in the final 30 minutes, led by best player of the game Jun Fujikawa.

Kuwait defeated the UAE 37-23 in their Group B clash between Gulf rivals. The Kuwaitis led 20-12 at the half and maintained their strong play after the interval to claim their first victory of the competition.

Salmin Abdullatif was selected as the best player of the match. In Bahrain’s loss yesterday, the home team matched their rivals goal for goal in the opening period and only a Dongyeo Kim goal with four seconds to go before half-time gave the South Koreans a slight edge.

In the second half, however, it was a completely different story, as the Bahrain is were held to just six goals, four of which came in the final 10 minutes of play with the victory already out of reach.

The South Koreans’ decisive 14-1 rally was spurred by Hyeonmin Kim (another player sharing the same name as the goalkeeper) and Mingi Son, who had six and four goals, respectively, in that span.

Both players finished the contest with seven goals apiece, as did Ryunhyun Kang, while Seungyong Lee added five goals. Jaffar Farsan led Bahrain with six goals while Alhayki had five.