HANDBALL – BAHRAIN were eliminated from further title contention yesterday in the 25th IHF Men’s U21 Handball World Championship 2025, currently being played in Poland.
The kingdom’s junior handball national team lost to African giants Egypt 19-28 in their second Group H encounter.
It was their second straight defeat in the preliminary round and it secured their place in the President’s Cup for the tournament’s next stage.
The Bahrainis will hope to wrap up their schedule in this phase with a win tomorrow when they face fellow-Asian side Saudi Arabia. Their clash is scheduled for a 12.45pm start, Bahrain time.
The Saudis are also winless in two games after bowing to European powerhouses Spain 27-35 in yesterday’s other divisional clash. Saudi will also be playing in the President’s Cup, which will rank the participating teams from 17th to 32nd at the end of play.
The Bahrainis stayed close in the first half yesterday against their Egyptian counterparts and were down just 10-14 at the break. After the restart, Egypt pulled away and had a double-digit advantage heading into the final quarter-hour. They maintained the comfortable gap until the final buzzer, closing out the nine-goal victory.
Elias Ali was Bahrain’s top scorer with six goals, while Sayed Mahmood Alfalahi chipped in with three and Abdulla Mohamed, Ahmed Fardan, and Abbas Ali each finished with two goals.
Feras Ragab and Mohamed Mahmoud spearheaded Egypt’s balanced attack with five goals each, while Omar Mohamed scored four.
Egypt and Spain face off in another Group H fixture tomorrow.
Elsewhere in the preliminary round, Group A features Norway, Slovenia, Uruguay, and hosts Poland; Group B includes Austria, Hungary, Argentina, and Brazil; Group C is composed of Sweden, Japan, South Korea, and the US; Group D comprises Portugal, Croatia, Algeria, and Canada; Group E features Denmark, France, Morocco, and Mexico; Group F includes Iceland, North Macedonia, Romania, and Faroe Islands; and Group G is composed of Tunisia, Serbia, Switzerland, and defending champions Germany.
At the end of this stage, the top two teams from each of the eight groups will move on to the main round, while the bottom two sides go to the President’s Cup.
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