HANDBALL – BAHRAIN’S under-19 handball national team lost to their counterparts from Brazil 25-33 last night in the 11th IHF Men’s Youth World Championship, currently being played in Cairo, Egypt.
The game was part of the 21st-to-24th placement bracket in the President’s Cup, which is the tournament’s lower-tier category that follows the preliminary round. It will decide 17th to 32nd places on the worlds’ final classification.
With their loss yesterday, the Bahrainis will thus play in the match for 23rd place overall on the rankings in their concluding fixture. It will be today against Kosovo, who lost in the same bracket yesterday to Argentina 22-32.
Bahrain and Kosovo clash at 5.15pm while Brazil and Argentina lock horns for 21st position, also at 5.15pm at a different venue. Both times are Bahrain.
The Bahrainis fell behind early in the opening half against Brazil but battled back to tie the game at 13-apiece following an Abuthar Yateem goal from the right wing right before the half. But Kelvin de Oliveira Barros scored for the Brazilians to enjoy a slim single-goal lead at the break.
After the re-start, Yateem levelled the score once again but then the Brazilians went on a game-changing rally, firing in four unanswered goals to take full control of the clash. The nationals never recovered from there as Brazil powered ahead and enjoyed leads as big as their eight-goal winning margin.
Abbas Ali finished as Bahrain’s leading scorer with six goals, while Mahmood Yusuf and Sayed Majeed Almuhafda contributed four apiece. Yateem chipped in with three goals in defeat.
Marcos Oliveira and George Michael Melo de Siqueira had six goals each to pace Brazil.
The kingdom’s delegation in Cairo is headed by Bahrain Handball Federation (BHF) board members Abdulrazzaq Khalil and Ali Al Jokam. The team’s administrator is Mohammed Al Showaikh, while the other delegation members are assistant coach Ahmed Tarada, goalkeeper coach Makram Al Misawi, technical analyst Qasim Mohammed, and physical therapist Karim Hassan.
Bahrain are competing for the sixth time in the history of the competition.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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