Bahrain’s Olympic dreams take a hit!

TDT | Manama   

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain’s hopes of securing a Paris Olympics berth suffered a major blow last night following a heart-breaking 24-25 loss to South American giants Brazil in the second game of their Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT), currently being held in the Spanish city of Granollers.

Sparked by the return of four of their star players, including skipper Hussain Al Sayyad, goalkeeper Mohammed Abdulhussain, Mohammed Habib Ahmed, and Mohammed Mirza, the nationals started the match strong and were in control for much of the way, leading by as many as three goals.

But the Brazilians fought back and gradually wrested away the advantage late in the second half, and it was too late for the Bahrainis to recover. After Ali Eid tied it at 23-all with a penalty throw, Brazil’s Gustavo Rodrigues gave them the lead for good.

Then, following a Bahrain turnover, Rudolph Hackbarth sealed the win on a fastbreak with just 30 seconds remaining. Eid pegged the final score from the seven-metre line with no time left.

The loss was the second successive defeat in as many days for the nationals, who have one match to play tomorrow against Slovenia, scheduled for a 5.15pm start, Bahrain time. Heading into yesterday’s clash, Brazil were gunning for their first win after losing to the Slovenians in their opening fixture.

Bahrain must now hope that other results fall in their favour and must also win their last assignment to have any chance of booking their place at the French capital later this summer.

The OQT in Granollers is one of three competitions being held in separate countries, with the top two from each completing the 12-nation field for the men’s handball tournament at the upcoming Olympiad.

The quartet Al Sayyad, Abdulhussain, Ahmed and Mirza— along with Ali Mirza—were all given months-long bans from international play for incidents that took place at this year’s Asian Men’s Handball Championship in January.

However, the Court of Arbitration of Sports (CAS) ruled to “temporary suspend” the bans, making the players eligible to compete in this OQT, the International Handball Federation had announced.

Not enough

They all made big contributions for the national team last night, but they weren’t enough to get them across the line with the win. Bahrain powered ahead at the start and an Al Sayyad conversion gave them a 9-6 advantage.

Abdulhussain later made a crucial stop with under 10 seconds to go in the first half and then Eid delivered a long, full-court pass that was caught in the air by Ahmed Jalal, who, in one fluid motion, fired into the net just before the buzzer to give bahrain a 14-11 edge at the break.

Brazil were the aggressors after the restart but Bahrain still maintained a two-goal cushion. That was, until the final 10 minutes when a Hackbarth goal tied it at 21-apiece, and then Hugo Bryan Monte Da Silva gave them their first lead.

The two sides traded goals until the crucial, game-deciding strikes of Rodrigues and Hackbarth. Ahmed finished as Bahrain’s leading scorer last night with six goals, while Jalal had five and Al Sayyad and Mohammed Habib Naser finished with four apiece.

Eid contributed three goals and Hasan Madan scored two. Hackbarth paced Brazil with six goals. Bahrain’s first loss in their OQT was a 27-39 defeat to hosts Spain on Thursday. Six teams have already booked their tickets to the French capital, including hosts France, reigning world champions Denmark, Asian Men’s Qualification Tournament winners Japan, Pan American Games winners Argentina, European champions Sweden, and African champions Egypt.

The Bahrainis narrowly missed out on direct qualification after losing to the Japanese 29-32 in the final of their continental qualifiers held last October in Doha.