Bahrain eye Paris Olympics berth

TDT | Manama    

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain face off with Japan today for the right to claim a direct berth in the men’s handball tournament at the Paris Olympic Games 2024.

The Kingdom’s senior men’s national handball team are hoping to secure their place in a second successive Olympics, having made their historic debut in Tokyo in 2021.

Today’s final of the Asian Men’s Qualification competition, currently being held in Doha, is scheduled for a 5.30pm start.

It will be played at Duhail Sports Hall in the Qatari capital.

There is only one direct berth available from this continental qualifier.

However, the losing side today will still have one more chance to make it to the French capital, but will need to compete against other top handball nations from around the world in one of three qualifying tournaments, also to be held in 2024.

Bahrain’s Olympic debut in Tokyo was not only the national team’s first time competing in the men’s handball tournament at any Olympics, but it was also the Kingdom’s maiden appearance in any team sport in the history of the quadrennial global showcase.

Bahrain qualified for this evening’s final following a dramatic 30-29 victory over Qatar on Thursday night.

The nationals staved off a late charge from their opponents and managed to come away with the nail-biting triumph, despite the ejection of influential skipper Hussain Al Sayyad, who was shown a red card with still over 10 minutes to play in the first half.

Mohammed Habib Ahmed scored the winning goal with 16 seconds remaining, firing in a fine effort from the penalty line.

Star goalkeeper Mohammed Abdulhussain then saved Qatar’s last-ditch attempt at levelling the scores, parrying away a shot by Frankis Marzo.

With the result, the Bahrainis not only kept their Olympic dreams alive, but they also avenged their loss to Qatar in the gold medal match of the recently concluded Hangzhou Asian Games, where they had to settle for the silver medals.

The Japanese advanced to the final after beating the South Koreans 34-23 in their semi-final contest. 

Bahrain and Japan met earlier in Asian Men’s Qualification in the preliminary round, where the Japanese claimed a narrow 27-26 win.

The nationals will be hoping to bounce back today and claim their Olympic berth.

Also taking place this evening, losing semi-finalists Qatar and South Korea lock horns for third place at the same value.