HANDBALL – BAHRAIN ground out a hard-earned 18-14 victory over Kuwait last night in the main round of the 18th Asian Men’s Junior Handball Championship, currently being played in Amman, Jordan.
The kingdom’s under-21 national handball team made the winning plays late in the second half in a low-scoring affair that was hotly contested from the opening throw.
Goals from Sayed Mahmood Alfalahi and Elias Ali with only five minutes remaining helped the nationals secure the win against their battling Gulf rivals.
Bahrain goalkeeper Ali Almadani also made a number of key saves and was later named the Man of the Match. He received an award post-game.
Their triumph was the first in two games in Group One of this stage in the competition. The Bahrainis were earlier held to a 25-all draw by South Korea, who are currently atop their division standings.
With yesterday’s result, Bahrain stayed in contention for a place in the semi-finals, and must win their game against hosts Jordan at 7pm v tonight, Bahrain time, to ensure they march through. The South Koreans and Kuwaitis face off at 3pm, also Bahrain, in the other Group One fixture.
Today is the final day of action in the championship’s main phase and only the top two teams from each division move on to the final four. Group Two is currently led by Japan, who have two wins from two fixtures, while Iran and Saudi Arabia follow with a victory apiece and Oman are in last place.
The Japanese routed their Omani counterparts 40-19 in yesterday’s other main round game. Japan face off with Iran today at 5pm while Saudi take on Oman at 1pm, both Bahrain time.
In the Bahrainis’ win last night, both sides clamped down defensively and only 13 goals were converted in the opening 30 minutes, setting the tone for the rest of the night. The nationals held a slim 7-6 advantage at the interval, and after Kuwait tied the score right after the restart through Saleh Alraghaib, Bahrain regained control with three unanswered goals from Salman Al Showaikh, Maitham Mahdi, and Mohammed Abdulla.
The Kuwaitis tried to stay close and got to within two, 12-14, with a little over 12 minutes remaining on the game clock. It then took the Bahrainis close to nine minutes to score the next goal through Alfalahi, and then Ali restored their four-goal cushion with under four minutes remaining.
Kuwait got no closer than three goals the rest of the way, and Abdulla Shuaib pegged the final score for the four-goal winning margin.
Ali finished as Bahrain’s leading scorer with four goals, while Shuaib added three. Alfalahi, Mahdi, Al Showaikh, and Ahmed Fardan all contributed two goals apiece, while Abdulla, Jaffar Farsan, and Sayed Mohammed Alfalahi rounded out the national team’s scorers with a goal each.
Alraghaib paced Kuwait with five goals in the loss, while Othman Najem had three.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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