HANDBALL – Bahrain made a rousing start last night to their medal bid in the boys’ handball tournament of the third Asian Youth Games, powering past Hong Kong 36-12 in their Group A contest played at the Bahrain Handball Federation Arena in Umm Al Hassam Sports Complex.
The Bahrainis headlined a list of five winners on the opening day of action in this mega multi-sport event, which is being held under the royal patronage of His Majesty King Hamad.
The other winners yesterday were China, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Kuwait – all powerhouses in continental handball.
Action continues today at the same venue, starting from 11am with the first fixtures in the girls’ handball competition.
Uzbekistan face India in the opening affair, followed by Kazakhstan taking on Hong Kong at 1pm and then China playing Iran at 3pm.
The boys are back on the court for this evening’s concluding two games.
Jordan and Saudi clash at 5pm followed by Bahrain taking on the Maldives at 7pm.
The Bahrainis are one of the favourites to step onto the podium for boys’ handball.
They were the bronze-medallists in the Asian Youth Games’ previous edition in 2013 in Nanjing, China, where they finished behind gold medal winners Qatar and silver-medallists South Korea.
Determined to make a winning campaign at home, the nationals put in a spirited effort from the opening throw against Hong Kong.
They scored the match’s first eight goals to take a big lead early, and they never looked back.
Ali Jadeed fired into an empty net to push the Bahrainis into double digits, and later Ahmed Al Samaheeji crafted a fastbreak goal to make it 16-2.
Hong Kong were able to narrow the deficit to 5-18 at the interval, but in the second half, it was more of the same, and three unanswered conversions gave Bahrain a commanding 28-8 advantage.
A goal by skipper Qassim Sabt from nine metres then made it 30-9 heading into the final 10 minutes, and Bahrain cruised the rest of the way en route to their impressive 24-goal triumph.
The final winning margin was also the biggest gap of the night.
Jadeed finished as the national team’s leading scorer with six goals, while Sabt and Mohammed Aadam chipped in with five apiece.
Al Samaheeji and Abuthar Yateem fired in four goals each, while Karrar Ahmed and Mahdi Ali both scored three.
Ali Hasan was on target twice for Bahrain, while completing their score sheet with one goal apiece were Hussain Abadi, Mohammed Tarrada, Ahmed Abdulla, and Mahmood Ahmed.
Wai Chun Or paced Hong Kong in defeat with three goals.
Also in Group A yesterday, Saudi posted a massive 71-7 rout of the Maldives. The Saudis were up 35-4 at the break.
In Group B, China used a strong second half to turn a 17-12 lead at the interval to a 40-25 triumph; Iran held Thailand to just three goals in the opening 30-minute period in a one-sided 42-12 win; and Kuwait were consistent against Kazakhstan to come away with a 42-26 decision.
Following their match today against the Maldives, Bahrain have a few days’ break before returning to action against Jordan on Saturday.
They then face off with Saudi on Sunday next week to complete their Group A schedule.
The top two teams from each of the two pools will move on to clash in the semi-finals, scheduled for October 28. The gold and bronze medal games will then take place on October 30.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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