Bahrain went down fighting as they faced off against Qatar last night in the 2022 Asian Men’s Handball Championship final at the Ministry of Sports Hall in Dammam.
With a final score of 29-24, it was the fourth time that the two sides met in the tournament’s finals following the 2014, 2016 and 2018 editions.
The first half saw intense action, with Qatar leading 14-11 at the breather. Al Annabi put up a dominating show in the second half to seal victory.
The second half witnessed Bahrain staging a strong comeback. They succeeded in reducing the deficit to one point (15-14) after coach Aron Kristjansson made a couple of changes to the defensive positions. However, Bahrain wasted scoring opportunities on various occasions.
The final took place following Qatar and Bahrain’s respective victories over Iran and Saudi Arabia.
Bahrain have reached the final on four previous occasions but failed to win every time, and still seek their maiden title.
Qatar will now take the tournament’s final qualification spot for the 2023 World Men’s Handball Championship in Poland and Sweden.
In the match for third place in the competition, tournament hosts Saudi Arabia faced Iran in a closer encounter with the game ending 26-23 to the Saudi Arabian team, as the hosts maintained the lead they had at half-time 15-12.
Meanwhile, in the match for fifth place, South Korea defeated Iraq 26-24, while the battle for seventh place saw Kuwait defeat Uzbekistan 32-30.