Bahrainis stay unbeaten in Asiad handball

TDT | Manama    

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain outclassed Kuwait 34-25 yesterday to maintain their undefeated record as they march into the semi-finals of the men’s handball tournament at the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China.

The Kingdom’s senior men’s national team finished as Group One winners with their third straight victory in the competition’s main round.

They also kept their perfect record after five games overall.

The Bahrainis are now set to take on Group Two runners-up Japan in their final four assignment tomorrow, scheduled for an 11am start, Bahrain time.

The Japanese bowed to defending champions Qatar 29-32 in their divisional clash yesterday, thus setting up the semis match-ups.

Kuwait and Qatar face off in tomorrow’s other fixture in the last four.

The winners will move on to the gold medal contest on Thursday, while the losers will lock horns for the bronze medals.

Bahrain are aiming for their first-ever Asiad gold in men’s handball and third medals overall.

They had previously won bronze at the 2014 edition in Incheon, South Korea, before clinching silver in 2018 in Jakarta, Indonesia.

The Bahrainis faced Qatar in the final in the previous Asian Games, where they lost 27-32 in overtime.

In their victory over Kuwait yesterday, the nationals fell behind 2-5 early on but then scored seven unanswered goals, sparked and capped by six-metre efforts from Mohammed Habib Nasser, for a 9-5 advantage.

They continued to stretch their lead and an Ahmed Fadhel goal on a fastbreak gave them a double-digit advantage, 21-11, heading into the half.

They never looked back from there, powering ahead by as many as 15, 28-13, en route to the final whistle.

Nasser finished as Bahrain’s leading scorer with eight points, while Ali Mirza added five and Ali Eid had four.

Three players finished with three goals each in the game, including skipper Hussain Al Sayyad, Mohammed Habib Ahmed and Mohammed Rabea, while Fadhel, Qassim Qambar and Hassan Mirza had two goals apiece.

Hassan Al Samaheeji and Mahdi Saad rounded out the Bahraini scorers with a conversion each.

Abdulaziz Alshammari and Mishaal Alharbi finished with seven goals apiece to pace Kuwait.

In yesterday’s other Group One fixture, South Korea edged past Iran 25-24.