HANDBALL – BAHRAIN posted a resounding 33-27 victory over Qatar last night but narrowly missed out on a spot in the semi-finals of the 10th Asian Men’s Youth Handball Championship, currently being held in Amman, Jordan.
The nationals claimed their second victory in three tries in group two of the tournament’s main round but could not advance to the last four after placing third on their pool standings.
Despite being eliminated from further title contention, the Bahrainis still have a big target to play for in their concluding assignment of the competition. They have a chance to book their tickets to the 11th IHF Men’s Youth U19 World Championship, set to be held in Slovenia next year, if they place amongst the top five teams on the final ranking at the end of action at the Jordanian capital.
Bahrain will be facing off with Iran tomorrow for fifth overall. The game is scheduled for a 6.15pm throw-off and it will be played in Amman’s Princess Sumaya Hall.
The semis are set for this evening. They will see group two winners Kuwait take on group one runners-up and defending champions South Korea, as well as group two runners-up Japan face off with group one winners Saudi Arabia.
The gold and bronze medal contests will be held on Saturday on the championship’s last day.
Bahrain took control of their contest against the Qataris yesterday midway through the first half and never looked back. A Salman Alshowikh goal gave them the lead for good at 11-10, but after Abuthar Yateem put them ahead 18-14, Qatar narrowed the gap to 16-18 at the interval.
Over the final 30 minutes, the Bahrainis maintained a comfortable cushion and led by as many as seven on multiple occasions. Wadee Hasan iced the contest with a conversion to make it 33-26 with just over a minute-and-a-half remaining on the game clock, and then Qatar’s Rayen Dridi pegged the final score before the final buzzer.
Alshowikh finished with a game-high 13 goals for Bahrain and was later named the Player of the Match. Mahmood Yusuf added seven and Ali Aryash chipped in with five, while Mohammed Abbas and Ali Sami scored two goals apiece. Yateem, Hasan, Qassim Sabt, and Abbas Ali all had a goal each in the win.
Anouar Oubaya paced the Qataris with 10 goals, while Dridi and Altahir Ibrahim had four apiece in the losing effort.
With the result, Bahrain joined Kuwait and Japan with 2-1 win-loss records and four points each on the group two standings. But they did not qualify for the final four on tie-breaker rules, which considers head-to-head results and total goals scored between the tied teams.
Qatar suffered their third loss of this stage and will take on hosts Jordan for seventh place overall tomorrow.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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