Bahrain secured the bronze medals last night while Saudi Arabia were crowned champions in the boys’ handball tournament of the third Asian Youth Games.
The hosts claimed their place on the podium after defeating China 32-28 in a hotly contested game for third place, played at the Bahrain Handball Federation (BHF) Arena in Um Al Hassam Sports Complex.
The Bahrainis joined gold-medallists Saudi and silver medal winners Kuwait in the boys’ top three. The Saudis captured their title after edging past their Kuwaiti counterparts 29-28 in yesterday’s nail-biting final, which attracted a large crowd.
Also yesterday, Iran captured the gold medals in girls’ handball. They clinched first place overall after defeating Hong Kong 37-21 in the concluding fixture of their league-type competition. The Iranians thus completed their campaign with an unbeaten record in six games, finishing on 12 points for the gold.
China bagged the girls’ silver medals after beating India 39-22 in their last assignment, which earned them their fifth win for 10 points on the table. Kazakhstan came away with bronze on eight points, ranked just ahead of Uzbekistan, who overcame Thailand 32-24 in yesterday’s other girls’ game.
The Uzbeks were classified fourth overall with six points, followed by India in fifth and Thailand in sixth, each on three points. Hong Kong were in last place amongst the girls with zero points following six losses.
Presenting the boys’ and girls’ handball medals last night were Olympic Council of Asia standing committee chair Prince Fahad bin Jalawi bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Kuwait Olympic Committee vice-president Sheikh Mubarak Faisal Nawaf Al Ahmad Al Sabah, BHF president Ali Eshaqi, Asian Handball Federation president Bader Mohammed Al Theyab, Bapco Energies Group CEO Mark Thomas, and other officials.
In Bahrain’s match last night, they faced an early 2-5 deficit but finally got into their groove and took an 8-7 lead on a Qassim Sabt goal. China briefly regained the advantage but Sabt was on target once again from the nine-metre line to help the Bahrainis go narrowly in front 14-13 at the interval.
In the second half, after Zirui Liu levelled the proceedings once more at 18-all, Bahrain began to pull away and Sabt gave them a 24-20 cushion with a penalty midway through the period. But the Chinese stayed resilient and closed the gap to 23-24 following a Bo Cheng conversion heading into the final 10 minutes.
That was as close as they would get, however, as Sayed Almuhafda replied from nine metres and then goals from Ahmed Al Samaheeji and Ahmed Abdulla made it 27-23. The home team held on from there, and Al Samaheeji pegged the final score with a goal right before the full-time buzzer.
Al Samaheeji was Bahrain’s top scorer with 10 goals, while Sabt chipped in with seven. Scoring four goals apiece were Almuhafda and Abuthar Yateem, while Abdulla and Ahmed Eid each finished with three goals. Liu was the game’s top marksman with 14 goals in the losing effort.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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