BAHRAIN recorded a resounding 33-10 victory yesterday over Australia to make a dream start in the 18th Asian Men’s Handball Championship in Suwon, South Korea.
The Bahrainis held a comfortable 12-6 lead at the end of the first-half and then overwhelmed their rivals, who are playing in the competition for the first time.
Ahmed Fadhul top scored for the Bahrainis with eight goals. Mahmood Abdulqader contributed five while Jassim Al Salatna and Mahdi Saad added four each.
The other scorers for Bahrain were Mohammed Habib (3), Ali Eid, Ali Mirza and Mohamed Al Maqabi (2 each).
Timothy Anderson was the leading scorer for Australia with three goals.
The result put Bahrain on top in Group ‘B’ which also includes Oman, who take on the Aussies today. Bahrain take on Oman tomorrow.
Elsewhere yesterday, Japan defeated Uzbekistan 38-27 in Group ‘A’; the UAE beat India 41-23 and hosts South Korea thrashed Bangladesh 46-20 in Group ‘C’.
Overcame
Saudi Arabia overcame China 30-24 while defending champions Qatar trounced New Zealand 58-14.
At the end of the preliminary round, the top two teams from each of the four groups move on to the main round consisting of two groups of four nations each.
Following another single round-robin clashes, the top two from each group move into the semi-finals to be held on January 26 and then the bronze and gold medal games on January 28.
There will also be classification matches to determine the final rankings among the 14 squads.
The Asian Championship also acts as the continental qualifier for the 2019 World Championship with the top four nations booking berths in next year’s finals to be held in Denmark and Germany.
Bahrain are looking to secure their third appearance in the world clash, having earlier qualified for the 2011 and 2017 competitions. The Bahrainis are also looking to secure their first Asian title, having finished runners-up in the last two editions in 2014 and 2016.