FUTSAL – BAHRAIN’S futsal teams were dealt opening game losses yesterday in their respective competitions in the third Asian Youth Games.
The Bahraini boys suffered a 0-6 defeat against China in the first Group A assignment of their preliminary round, while the girls were dealt a heavy 0-14 defeat against Iran in their opening phase. Both contests were played at Khalifa Sports City Arena in Isa Town.
In the boys’ setback, they gave up four goals in the opening half, including an own goal by Ammar Mubarak that made it 2-0 for the Chinese after just seven minutes.
Five of their players were on target in the contest – Qishi Ouyang, Chenxi Sun, and Li Sheng all scored in the first 20-minute period, and then Haoqian Yu and Yufan Liu capped their win with goals after the re-start.
The Bahrainis will be looking to bounce back when they play Afghanistan tonight at 8pm. They then wrap up their schedule against Uzbekistan tomorrow at 10.30pm.
In other boys’ matches yesterday, the Afghans beat the Uzbeks 10-2, while Thailand outplayed Saudi Arabia 11-0 in Group B.
In the girls’ first fixture yesterday, the nationals gave up seven goals on either side of half-time.
Narges Amirmohseni led the Iranians as she was on target four times in the contest, while Niyayesh Rahmani added three goals. Sarina Zarehaghighi, Zahra Amini, and Aynaz Yazdipourgholamreza contributed two apiece, while Setayesh Rezaeisalahi rounded off Iran’s scorers with one goal.
The result was the second straight win for Iran as they rose to the top of the standings with six points. They are followed by China with four points following their resounding 10-1 win against Hong Kong in yesterday’s other girls’ futsal fixture.
Bahrain’s girls are back in action today against Hong Kong at 12.30pm. They then play China tomorrow at the same time, before completing their preliminary round campaign against Chinese Taipei on Monday.
The semi-finals are set for Tuesday and the gold and bronze medal games will be held on Wednesday.
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