Bahrain shine to top group

TDT | Manama                                                     

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain scored a convincing 34-15 victory over the UAE last night to finish with an unblemished record in the preliminary round of the 21st Asian Men’s Handball Championship, currently being played in the Kingdom.

Backed by a large crowd of home fans who flocked to Khalifa Sports City Arena in Isa Town, the nationals flexed their muscles against their Gulf rivals and strengthened their hopes of securing their first-ever Asian men’s crown.

Mohammed Habib Ahmed was named the Best Player of the Game.

In attendance yesterday was Bahrain Olympic Committee vice-president His Highness Shaikh Isa bin Ali bin Khalifa Al Khalifa.

The result earned the Bahrainis their third straight win to finish the preliminary round in first place in Group D. Bahrain will next play in Group II of the main round along with Group C runners-up Iraq, the winners of Group B and the runners-up of Group A.

The Emiratis, despite their loss last night, are also through to the next stage.

They are in Group I along with Group C winners Japan, the winners of Group A and the runners-up of Group B. The complete groupings will be determined tonight following the final day of action in the preliminaries.

The 21st Asian Men’s Handball Championship also acts as a qualifier for 2025 IHF World Men’s Handball Championship.

The top five senior men’s national teams secure berths in next year’s worlds, to be held in Croatia, Denmark, and Norway.

Following a rest day tomorrow, the main round will be held from Thursday to Sunday, after which the semi-finals will take place on January 23.

The gold and bronze medal games are then set for January 25. Final classification contests are also scheduled for January 22 and 23.

In Bahrain’s win last night, they controlled the game from the opening throw and led 19-8 at the half.

They stretched that advantage to as many as their final winning margin of 19 goals in the final 30 minutes, en route to the impressive victory.

Qassim Qambar was the Bahrainis’ leading scorer with seven goals in the match.

Ahmed chipped in with five, while skipper Hussain Al Sayyad and Hassan Al Samaheeji each scored four goals.

Mohammed Mirza, Hassan Madan and Ali Al Asheeri contributed three apiece.

Rashed Almutawa paced the Emiratis with five goals.

Elsewhere yesterday, Japan claimed Group C supremacy after routing India 59-11.

Japan led 27-6 at the half and took care of business after the break for their second win.

Naoki Sugioka was named the Best Player of the Game. Iraq, meanwhile, snuck away with the other man round spot from Group C following a dramatic 31-all stalemate against Saudi Arabia.

The Iraqis, who fought back from a 14-16 deficit at the interval, finished behind Japan on the table, with Saudi in third and India in last place.

Iraq’s Baderaldeen Hammoodi was selected as the top performer in the contest.

Also yesterday, Kazakhstan edged past Hong Kong 27-22 in the other Group D fixture, which had no bearing on the main round participants.

The Kazakhs led 12-11 at the half. Artyom Melnichenko was the Best Player of the Game for the winners, who will next compete for the Martyr Fahad Al Ahmad Al Sabah Cup, along with the other bottom-ranked sides from the preliminaries.

Today, defending champions Qatar will face Kuwait at 5pm to determine the winners of Group A, while South Korea take on Iran at 7pm for first place in Group B.