BAHRAIN continued their relentless march yesterday in the 19th Asian Men’s Handball Championship in Kuwait.
The national team edged out Iran 22-20 in a thriller to top Group ‘A’ undefeated and progress into the main draw.
Bahrain, who have already qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics by beating Qatar in a qualifying tournament in Doha last October, stay on course for a maiden berth in the World Handball Championship to be held in Egypt next year as the semi-finalists in Kuwait are guaranteed a place.
Unlike in the first match against New Zealand which they won with ease 45-16, Bahrain had to dig really deep to pip Iran who offered stiff resistance right through the match.
Bahrain stayed a nose ahead but could not build a substantial lead as Iran kept bouncing back.
Bahrain went into half-time 14-11 but Iran hit back immediately after the restart and equalised 14-14 before going ahead for the first time in the match 17-16.
Close
It was a close affair from there on but Bahrain suffered a setback at the closing stages with the scores tied 20-20 when Ali Mirza committed a foul and was send off.
However, Bahrain kept their cool and Ahmed Jalal and Jassim Al Salatna combined to lead the Kingdom to a narrow but deserving victory.
Bahrain goalkeeper Mohamed Abdulhussein put up another stellar performance pulling off some great saves and was declared the player-of-the-match for the second time in a row.
Bahrain are in Group 1 in the main round along with Saudi Arabia, Japan and the seventh placed team yet to be decided’.
Qatar, Iran, South Korea and a yet to be decided team are in Group ‘2’.
Bahrain next take on the seventh placed team tomorrow at 2pm, face Japan the next day at the same time and clash with Saudi Arabia on Tuesday at 4pm.
The top two teams from each group qualify for the semi-finals set for January 25 while the final will be held on January 27.