HANDBALL – Bahrain suffered a disheartening 27-31 loss to Japan last night in their President’s Cup clash of the 2025 IHF World Men’s Handball Championship.
The President’s Cup is the lower-tier competition of the worlds, which will determine places 25th to 32nd on the overall final classification. It is being contested by the eight national teams that did not make it through to the tournament’s main round from the preliminaries.
Bahrain’s Group II game yesterday was tied at 13-apiece at the half, and things remained deadlocked at 27-all with only five minutes to go in the contest. But that’s when the Japanese finally took control, closing out the affair with four unanswered goals, escaping with the win.
It was the first loss of this phase for the Bahrainis, who had earlier defeated Cuba in their opening assignment.
Mohammed Habib Nasser scored six goals to lead the nationals, while Jassim Khamis added four. Three players finished with three goals apiece, including Ali Eid, Qassim Qambar, and Mohammed Habib Ahmed, while Mujtaba Al Zaimour and Ali Al Asheeri contributed two each.
Tatsuki Yoshino and Shinnosuke Tokuda were the leading scorers for the Japanese, firing in six and five goals, respectively.
Bahrain are back in action tomorrow when they face off with the US in their concluding fixture in Group II. The game is scheduled for an 8pm, Bahrain time, and it will be played at Porec Zatika Arena.
Bahrain dropped to the President’s Cup after losing all three of their matches in Group H of the preliminaries against the co-host Croatians, Egypt and Argentina.
They are competing in the worlds’ lower tier for the first time since 2019, having made it through to the main phase in the last two editions in 2023 and 2021. Bahrain’s best finish was in the previous competition in 2023, when they ranked an impressive 16th overall.
Their ranking in Group II at the end of the President’s Cup single round-robin will determine their opponents in their final placement match.
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