South Korea, Iran to face off for Asian handball gold

TDT | Manama                                                             

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

South Korea and Iran set up an exciting clash for the gold medals last night in the ninth Asian Men’s Youth (U19) Handball Championship, currently being hosted by the Kingdom. The South Koreans made it through with a narrow 23-21 win against Japan in their semi-final clash, while the Iranians advanced after edging past Saudi Arabia 33-32 after a pair of nail-biting extra-time sessions. Both the gold and bronze medal games are scheduled for Wednesday.

In South Korea’s win, they held a slim 11-9 lead at the half and just managed to hold on to that advantage over the final 30 minutes. Japan cut the deficit to just one goal, 20-21, with under five minutes left after Sora Yagyu scored, but the victors replied with two unanswered goals to virtually ice the win. Mingi Son finished with five goals to lead the victors, while Ryunhyun Kang and Hyeonmin Kim added four goals a piece .

The South Korea goal keepe r, also named Hyeonmin Kim, was named the player of the match, having made 13 saves. Yagyu led Japan with five goals. Meanwhile, Iran needed two extra-time sessions to oust Saudi. Regular time ended tied at 24-apiece, and then Saudi took a slim 27-26 advantage after the opening five-minute half of the first extra-time. T h e g a m e then went i n t o a second extra-time after the score remained level at 28-all.

The Iranians then took a 31-30 lead after the first half of this second extra session, and held on to close the match out by the single-goal margin. Iran’s Saber Haidari Ramesh was selected as the game’s best player. Elsewhere yesterday, Bahrain defeated Qatar 37-26 in their classification game.

The hosts led 19-13 at the half. Bahrain’s Sayed Husain Almuhafdha was selected as the best player of the contest. The Bahrainis now move on to face Kuwait for fifth place overall in the tournament. That game is scheduled for tomorrow at 6pm.

The Kuwaitis beat their Uzbek counterparts 22-20 in a comefrom-behind result, having trailed 7-11 at the break. Despite the loss, Uzbekistan goalkeeper Durbek Sultonov was named the top player in the game. Qatar and Kuwait will lock horns for seventh place, also tomorrow at 4pm. Iraq took ninth place overall in the competition after beating India 37-26 yesterday. They led 17-12 at the half. Abdulkareem Ali was named the best player of the match.