BAHRAIN Military Team beat Qatar Military Team 3-1 to claim the soccer title in the Seventh World Military Games in Wuhan, China, yesterday.
Bahrain went ahead in the 68th minute as Qatari defender Ahmed Al Jabri scored an own goal.
Once ahead, Bahrain pressed hard to double the lead and their perseverance paid off as two minutes later striker Thiago made the most of a fine pass from Abdulla Mubarak inside the penalty area and beat Qatari goalkeeper Abdulla Al Hajri.
Qatar pulled one back through striker Meshaal Abdulla in the 80th minute. Abdulla made the most of some weak defending by Bahrain and reduced the margin.
Qatar tried their best to equalise but Bahrain held on and Thiago scored the third goal in the dying minutes to seal a deserving victory.
Bahrain qualified for the quarter-finals from Group ‘C’ along with North Korea, both on seven points.
Bahrain beat Oman, runners-up at the last edition, in the quarter-finals and Algeria in the semi-finals in a penalty shootout after full time and extra-time ended goalless.
Bahrain converted all their five penalties in the shootout.
Qatar beat North Korea in the semi-finals,
The Bahrain team consisted of Hamad Al-Dosari (goalkeeper), Qutbuddin Zaheer Ayman, Khalifa Al Lafi, Ibrahim Khojali, Yahya Anfahi, Habib Haroun, Ali Kamel, Moses, Abdullah Mubarak, Thiago and Marqueso.
Qatar claimed silver medals and Algeria bronze.