Bahrain keep Olympic hopes alive!

TDT | Manama    

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain barged last night into the semi-finals of Asian Men’s Qualification for the men’s handball tournament at the Paris Olympic Games 2024.

The Bahrainis secured their place with a hard-earned 28- 24 victory over Iran at Duhail Sports Hall in Doha, Qatar, to finish second in Group B of the competition’s preliminary round and punch their tickets to the final four.

There, they will take on Group A winners Qatar in an exciting clash between the two finalists from the last edition of the continental qualifiers in 2019, held for the Tokyo Olympics.

A scintillating rally late in the second half, where Bahrain scored four unanswered goals, proved decisive in yesterday’s intense battle.

After Iran got to within one, a goal by skipper Hussain Al Sayyad sparked the Bahrainis’ run.

Fastbreak strikes by Qassim Qambar and two straight from Mujtaba Al Zaimour then gave the nationals some breathing room with less than five minutes remaining.

The Iranians were able to narrow the gap to three in the ensuing minutes, but came no closer.

Bahrain’s semi-final with Qatar is also a re-match of the gold medal match from the recently concluded Hangzhou Asian Games, where the nationals lost to the Qataris and had to settle for the silver medals.

The Bahrainis need to beat their Gulf rivals to have any chance of a second successive appearance at the Olympics.

Only the winners from the Asian Men’s Qualification tournament clinch a direct berth in next year’s men’s handball competition in Paris.

The runners-up will get another chance to book their tickets, but must compete against other top handball nations from around the world in one of three qualifying events next year.

Following yesterday’s result, the Bahrainis finished behind Group B top-placers Japan, who face off with South Korea in the other semi-final contest.

Both mouth-watering ties are scheduled for tomorrow. In Bahrain’s win against Iran, the nationals needed to dig deep to overcome a stern challenge from their opponents.

They took a 16-12 advantage into the break but the Iranians did well to stay in the fight for much of the final 30 minutes.

Iran came close to levelling the scores in the latter stages, but the nationals responded, particularly with their key spurt that turned a slim, 22-21 edge to a 26-21 cushion.

Last night’s result gave Bahrain a 3-1 win-loss record to wrap up the group stage.

They also posted wins against the Kazakhs and Kuwaitis, which came on either side of a heartbreaking, single-goal loss to the Japanese.

Following tomorrow’s fixtures in the last four, the final and game for third place will be held on the qualifiers’ concluding day of action on Saturday.

Bahrain are aiming to qualify for their second successive Olympics, after making their historic debut in Tokyo in 2021.

It was not only the national team’s first time competing in the men’s handball tournament at any Olympic Games, but it was also the Kingdom’s maiden appearance in any team sport at the Olympics.