Kristjansson: We will fight like warriors

TDT | Manama                      

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com   

Bahrain’s senior men’s national handball team “will fight like warriors” in their concluding preliminary round game tonight against Belgium as they look to qualify for the main stage of the 28th International Handball Federation (IHF) Men’s Handball World Championship, currently being co-hosted by Poland and Sweden.

The Bahrainis are currently last place in Group H with a single point following their opening 27-all draw with Tunisia last Friday.

Despite a heavy 21-36 defeat to defending world champions Denmark on Sunday night, the nationals are still in contention to advance to the competition’s ensuing phase.

Bahrain’s match with Belgium tonight is scheduled for an 8pm throw-off. It will be played at Malmo Arena in the Swedish city of Malmo.

A win against the Belgians would secure Bahrain’s place in the worlds’ main round.

With any other outcome, the their fates will depend on the result of tonight’s other group fixture between the Danes and Tunisia, and the subsequent order on the final pool standings.

Kristjansson said that Bahrain were expecting such a scenario heading into the tournament, and will be fully ready to try and achieve their target.

“We as a team have to now find our resources and prepare very well for the next game,” Kristjansson said following their loss to Denmark.

“We knew before the tournament that the last game in the group would be the one that decides this for us,” he added. “We could in the beginning of the tournament make problems for Tunisia.

“This one game [against Belgium], we know we can win, but we also know we can lose because Belgium is a good team.

“We will prepare well. We will fight like warriors. Inshaallah, we will make Bahrain proud.” The Icelandic tactician said that Bahrain’s clash with handball giants Denmark was a good learning experience for the national team’s younger stars.

“It was good for them, to play against this team with this atmosphere, with almost 13,000 spectators, most of them Danes,” Kristjansson explained. “This was an experience they have to learn very fast from.”

The nationals are looking to qualify for the main round for only the second time in five appearances at the worlds.

In the competition’s previous edition in 2021, the Bahrainis made it through following an historic win over DR Congo in the preliminaries.

Bahrain are one of 32 national teams from five confederations taking part this year.

The field has been divided into eight groups for the preliminaries.

After a single round-robin, with the top three advancing from each group, the fourth-ranked nations will vie for the lower-tier President’s Cup.