Bahrain miss Paris Olympics berth

TDT | Manama                                                      

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain have missed out on a place in the men’s handball tournament at the Paris Olympics 2024.

Hoping to qualify for a second straight Olympiad, the Kingdom’s senior men’s national handball team ended their Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT) at the Spanish city of Granollers last night with a third loss in as many games.

They bowed to European giants Slovenia 27-32 yesterday to end their qualification campaign.

The defeat followed a heavy loss to hosts Spain, which was followed by a heart-breaking, single-goal setback to South American powerhouses Brazil.

The Bahrainis needed nothing short of a victory against the Slovenians last night—and for Spain to beat Brazil in their OQT’s other game—to have any chance of booking their tickets to the French capital. But they came up narrowly short.

In the first half yesterday, the nationals got off to a strong start and took a 3-0 advantage, but their rivals eventually warmed up and went on a 9-2 run.

An Ali Eid penalty throw brought Bahrain back to 10-13, but the Slovenians extended the gap and headed into the interval up 17-12.

In the final 30 minutes, backto-back conversion from skipper Hussain Al Sayyad and fellow-veteran Mohammed Mirza brought the Bahrainis to within 15-18, but they could not make the most of a couple of impressive saves by goalkeeper Mohammed Abdulhussain to further cut into the deficit.

Slovenia made them pay, and gradually stretched their advantage once more, going up 28- 21 on successive goals by Borut Mackovsek from the six-metre line and Mitja Janc on a fastbreak. No closer Bahrain fought back to five goals down, but got no closer the rest of the way.

Jasim Khamis scored in the very last second to peg the final margin. Eid paced Bahrain in the loss with five goals, while Mohammed Habib Naser added four.

Ahmed Jalal scored three, while Mohammed Mirza, Hassan Al Samaheeji, Al Sayyad, Mujtaba Al Zaimour, and Ahmed Redha all had two goals apiece.

Aleks Vlah was the top scorer of the contest with eight goals for Slovenia, while Blaz Janc and Mackovsek each finished with five.

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 this summer’s Paris Olympics.

The second OQT features Croatia, Algeria, Austria and hosts Germany; while the third OQT is composed of Norway, Portugal, Tunisia and home side Hungary. 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.