ISLAMIC SOLIDARITY GAMES – VETERAN goalkeeper Mohammed Abdulhussain made a game-saving stop for Bahrain in a thrilling 28-27 victory over Kuwait yesterday in the sixth Islamic Solidarity Games in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Abdulhussain saved the penalty attempt of Kuwait’s Ali Jaafar with no time remaining in their Group B contest to help the kingdom’s senior men’s handball national team eke out the narrow result and make a winning start to their medal bid.
The Kuwaitis were awarded their seven-metre throw after Bahrain skipper Hussain Al Sayyad was called for an overly aggressive foul on Saif Aladwani on his effort to tie with only three seconds remaining on the game clock.
The incident resulted in a heated and physical exchange between players from both teams, who cleared their benches, and after order was restored, a review of the play was conducted by the match referees, who ultimately gave Al Sayyad a red card.
Jaafar stepped forward to take the penalty. The southpaw aimed for the bottom-right corner, but Abdulhussain was up to the task, stopping the shot with his left foot and sealing Bahrain’s win.
Earlier in the match, with Bahrain leading 27-26, Jassim Khamis scored three minutes from the end of regulation to put the nationals up by two. Kuwait’s Humood Aladwani was then on target to bring his team back to within a single goal, but that would eventually be the final conversion of the afternoon.
It also set the stage for the game-ending drama and Abdulhussain’s heroics for Bahrain.
The Kuwaitis took charge at the beginning of the match and held a slim 8-6 edge. But Bahrain then scored four unanswered goals, including two straight from Mohammed Habib Ahmed, to go up 12-8. The Bahrainis, coached by Swede Robert Hedin, extended their advantage to 15-10 but Kuwait cut the gap by the break, when the nationals were ahead 16-14.
In the second half, Kuwait tied it at 20-all but Bahrain stayed in command and Hasan Mirza made it 24-21 midway through the period. Their opponents remained resilient and drew level at 25-apiece, but then goals by Khamis and Al Sayyad kept the nationals afloat at 27-25 with five minutes to play, paving the way for Khamis’s final effort.
Mirza finished as Bahrain’s leading scorer with seven goals, while Al Sayyad chipped in with five. Ahmed scored four for the Bahrainis, while Khamis, Mohammed Habib Nasser, and Qassim Qambar each finished with three goals.
Saif Aladwani was Kuwait’s top performer with seven, while Saleh Ali and Abdulrahman Al Shammari contributed four apiece. The Kuwaitis are led by former Bahrain head coach Aron Kristjansson.
Bahrain and Kuwait are joined in Group B of the men’s handball competition by Iraq and hosts Saudi, while Qatar, Iran, the UAE, and the Maldives make up Group A.
The Bahrainis are back in action tomorrow when they take on the Saudis at 4pm. They then face Iraq on Tuesday at 2pm in their concluding fixture of the preliminary round.
At the end of this stage, the top two teams from each pool move on to the semi-finals, scheduled for Wednesday, while the bronze medal game will be held on Thursday and the gold medal match on Friday.
Meanwhile, also yesterday in the sixth Islamic Solidarity Games, Bahrain’s Roaya Alsaati narrowly missed out on a top 10 finish in the women’s sprint duathlon.
Alsaati ranked 11th overall amongst 13 competing athletes and registered a total race time of one hour 17 minutes and 02.4 seconds.
Alsaati finished her opening run in 20:54.7 and then clocked a time of 42:58.1 in the ensuing bike leg. She had a mark of 10:40.7 in the concluding run stage as she finished around 12-and-a-half minutes behind gold-medallist Francisca Tous Servera Sironem from Türkiye, who won in 1:04.27.1. Alina Khakimova from Uzbekistan claimed the silver medal 18.8 seconds behind, while Ghizlane Assou from Morocco clinched bronze 3:15.7 back.
The men’s duathlon is scheduled for today.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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