Bahrain draw with Tunisia in handball worlds

TDT | Manama                      

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com   

Bahrain narrowly missed out on a fine victory last night in their opening match of the 28th International Handball Federation (IHF) Men’s Handball World Championship but came away with a point following a thrilling 27-all draw against Tunisia at Malo Arena in Malmo, Sweden.

The nationals came out of the gates roaring, powering ahead 6-0 in the opening minutes before the Tunisians gradually fought their way back.

Bahrain held a slim 16-15 advantage at the interval, but in the final 30-minute period, the Tunisians eventually took the lead with five unanswered goals and Bahrain facing a 23-27 deficit with less than 10 minutes to go.

But the nationals made one last rally to finish strong, with a goal from Ali Mirza, two from Fadhul and an equaliser from Mohammed Mirza from the six-metre line with just one minute remaining.

After their opponents failed to score on their end, the nationals had a last chance to eke out the win, but star skipper Hussain Al Sayyad was inches off target with his effort from nine metres out.

The two teams thus each came away with their first point of the competition. Fadhul top scored for Bahrain with 10 goals.

He was later named the Player of the Match and was awarded after the final buzzer. Ali Mirza added four goals, while Al Sayyad and Mohammed Habib Mohammed scored three apiece.

Qassim Qambar chipped in with two for Bahrain, while Ali Eid, Hassan Mirza, Hassan Al Samaheeji, Mohammed Mirza and Mujtaba Alzaimor all finished with a goal each.

Goalkeeper Mohammed Abdulhussain had a fine performance, making 11 stops in the contest.

For Tunisia, Issam Rzig was their leading scorer with eight goals. Oussama Boughanmi added seven while Abdelhak Ben Salah and Anouar Ben Abdallah had three apiece.

Bahrain return to the playing court tomorrow when they face off with reigning world champions Denmark. That game is scheduled for a 10.30pm start, Bahrain time.

The nationals then close out this phase on Tuesday next week against Belgium. The Bahrainis are one of 32 national teams from five confederations competing in the worlds.

They have been divided into eight groups for the preliminaries. After a single round-robin, the top three teams from each move on to the main round, where they will be divided into four further groups of six teams apiece.

The other eight squads will vie for the President’s Cup.