Bahrain bow to Belarus in handball friendly

TDT | Manama                 

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com 

Bahrain’s senior men’s national handball team lost to European handball giants Belarus 28-33 last night in an international friendly game played at the Bahrain Handball Association (BHA) Arena in Um Al Hassam.

The Bahrainis trailed 14-20 at the half and tried valiantly to claw their way back into contention, but came up short in the end.

The tune-up was part of the Bahrainis’ preparations for the 28th International Handball Federation (IHF) Men’s Handball World Championship, taking place next month to be co-hosted by Poland and Sweden.

It was the first of two games to be played against the Belarusians in the Kingdom.

The two sides meet again tonight.

Following these fixtures, the nationals will compete in a warm-up tournament in Spain in early January, with other participating nations being Argentina, Romania and hosts Spain.

The Argentinians and Spaniards are also playing in the world championship.

Coached by Aron Kristjansson from Iceland, Bahrain are in Group H for the worlds along with Denmark, Belgium and Tunisia.

The 32 nations from five confederations have been divided into eight groups for the tournament’s preliminary stage.