BAHRAIN edged past Algeria 42-40 (5-3) in a penalty shootout yesterday in the 2017 IHF Men’s Youth (under-19) World Handball Championship in Tbilisi, Georgia.
The match was Bahrainis’ first of the placement round for teams to be ranked 21st to 24th overall. Bahrain take on Argentina, who beat Mexico 32-20, today, at 11.45am Bahrain time, in a game that will decide the 21st and 22nd positions in the final standings.
Bahrain squandered a seven-goal advantage against Algeria before winning in the shootout.
Clawed
The Bahrainis led 24-19 at half-time but the Algerians slowly clawed their way back into the match. The Bahrainis later found themselves 36-37 down with just under a minute-and-a-half remaining.
But Bahrain’s Ahmed Ali equalled with only 31 seconds left and the match spilled into a shootout.
Ahmed Fadul made no mistake with Bahrain’s first effort. Bahrain goalkeeper Qasim Alshuwaikh then saved Amar Messaoud shot.
Bahrain’s Ahmed Ali, Fadhel Almaqabi, Mohamed Mohamed and Yusuf Alqasimi converted their seven-metre shots while the Algerians could only convert three.
Fadul was Bahrain’s man-of-the-match with 16 goals while Ali contributed nine. Alghazal finished with five and Almaqabi four.
Issam Gasmi and A M Fodhil spearheaded Algeria with nine goals apiece.