U23 Olympic team bow out of men's football

TDT | Manama    

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain bowed out of the men’s football competition yesterday at the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China.

The Kingdom’s under-23 Olympic football team went down fighting 0-2 against their counterparts from North Korea in their round-of-16 clash at Zhejiang Normal University East Stadium.

The Bahrainis conceded a goal apiece on either side of the interval, with midfielders Kukchol Kang and Kukbom Kim both on target for the North Koreans.

Kang opened the scoring in the first minute of first-half stoppage time.

Kang headed home a short cross from teammate Kyongsok Kim from close range, finally breaking through the Bahrainis’ solid defensive line.

After the break, Kukbom doubled their advantage in the 62nd minute with a brilliant strike from two metres outside the penalty box.

His curling effort flew above the outstretched arm of Bahrain goalkeeper Salman Adel Alisa and hit the crossbar before bouncing in.

The Bahrainis valiantly tried  to fight back until the final whistle, but had no real attempts on goal but finished the contest with three yellow cards.

With the result, Bahrain's under-23s wrapped up their campaign at the Hangzhou Asiad with no wins in their four matches.

They had drawn two of their three preliminary round fixtures to squeeze into the round of 16.

The North Koreans advanced to the quarter-finals, where they will play the winner of the match between Japan and Myanmar, scheduled for today.

Bahrain have now signed off from two of the four team sports the national athletes are competing in at the 19th Asian Games.

These are both football and volleyball. In men’s basketball, Bahrain are back in action today against Jordan at 6am, Bahrain time, and then complete their preliminary round Group C campaign against Thailand on Saturday, at 12.30pm, Bahrain time.

After losing their opening game against the Philippines on Tuesday, the Bahrainis are hoping to finish amongst the top three in their pool in order to advance past the first phase.